Energy certificates become mandatory for real estate transactions starting July 19

Newsroom 18/07/2013 | 15:17

Owners who want to either sell or rent real estate properties starting this Friday, will require an energy certificate in order to conclude contracts. The measure is provided by Law 159/2013 which refers to the energy performance of local buildings.

This will apply to apartments, apartment buildings, houses, office buildings, hotels, restaurants, all public buildings and in general all energy consuming buildings. Owners or managers who are looking to sell or rent such properties will have to provide potential buyers with a copy of the building’s energy certificate which offers details about its energy consumption. After the contract is signed, they will have to provide the buyer or the tenant with the original.

The energy certificate is released on demand by a registered auditor. There were close to 1,400 such auditors at July 8, according to data from the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration. The certificate provides each building a ranking from 1 (least energy efficient) to 100 (most energy efficient) and includes the building in one out of seven efficiency classes – from A to G, A being the most energy efficient, G the least.