California Energy Disclosure

In California, the commercial building owner must satisfy specific requirements under the Public Resources Code. It all began in 2007 when the Governor authorized Assembly Bill 1103 (an energy-related bill) which adds section 25402.10 to the Public Resources code. The bill required that electric and gas utilities would maintain usage records for all commercial buildings beginning in 2009. It also mandates the benchmarking and disclosure for NON residential buildings involved in a transfer, either via a lease, purchase or both. Originally slated to go into effect for building owners in 2010, the mandate for benchmarking was delayed until 2012. Originally, these rules were designated for buildings containing floor space of 50,000 square feet or more. Nevertheless, there were additional enforcement dates changing the size limit.

On January 14, 2014, this requirement became effective for buildings containing only 10,000 square feet or more of floor space.
On July 1, 2014, the floor space requirements will update to include property containing more than 5000 square feet of floor area through 9,999 square feet.

A must read is the “California Non-residential Building Energy Disclosure Program Information” There are many steps and regulations that must be adhered to including that the tenant receives energy consumption and benchmarking disclosure documents. The tenant must receive all documents in a time ordered fashion, including a Disclosure Summary Sheet, Data checklist and a Statement of Energy Performance.

After the landlord follows the instructions and steps of the program, a disclosure must be included in the lease detailing that the tenant received all of the information. The Ez Landlord Forms’ California Energy Disclosure fulfills this requirement.

This disclosure is auto filled with the landlord’s information, building address that is to be rented along with the tenant information. It includes signature lines for the tenant to endorse. This is then printed as part of the EZ Landlord Forms’ California commercial lease package.