48Lease Contracts and Sustainability in the Housing Market

Sustainability seems to be everywhere nowadays and, at the same time, looking at the political developments across the Atlantic, nowhere anymore. However, it has long been recognised that buildings are a major source of energy consumption for heating, cooling and otherwise. Improving their efficiency is therefore highly relevant to achieve sustainability goals more generally. For some time, ink has been spilled on administrative laws to make new and existing buildings more efficient, but only recently have regulatory approaches tackled the angle of lease contracts in a sustainability dimension. These are the focus of this paper, analysing recent developments in a European and comparative perspective.