alconIt took months for the Spanish government to finally publish the new legislation which covers all houses and properties in the country that are being rented, leased or sold after June 1, 2013. This law states that owners should acquire an “energy certificate”.

This is to follow the footsteps of EU Directive’s Energy Performance of Buildings which became effective back in 2007. This new legislation is in line with the Kyoto Agreement, a worldwide treaty that states all participating countries should do their best and use all their resources in order to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emitted to the environment. This new law will greatly help in resolving environmental issues by evaluating energy efficiency in homes, real estate and other properties. It is popularly known as “energy performance certificate”.

The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), Certificado de Eficiencia Energetica (CEE) in Spanish, aims to ensure that homes are energy-efficient in order to reduce carbon dioxide emission. Each house will be graded in a scale of A to G, with A as the most efficient home and G as the most inefficient.

Whatever will be the outcome, the homeowner is not required to make changes to the house. However, if you plan to sell your house, renovations are necessary to make it more attractive to tenants or buyers.

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This certificate has significant impact on rentals, buyers and holiday lets. If a let is more than four months long, then it is important to acquire the EPC. If you are already leasing a home or real estate, then you will not need an EPC until you decide to lease again or sell it. If the owner failed to give EPC and other valuable information to the buyer or tenant, then the contract is invalid. The government will take legal action against you and your real estate agent. So before you put your home in the market, make sure that you have the essential legal documents needed like the EPC.cullar

However, if your property is already in the market, then you have one week after June 1, 2013 to apply for the certificate. It takes about three weeks before the government will send you the certificate.

If you made renovations or changes to your house to improve energy efficiency of the house, then you can have it reassessed. The technician will visit and evaluate your house, gather valuable information and input it into software which will calculate your score. After a couple of weeks, you will receive your new EPC for your home.

Only qualified and authorized technicians have the authority to make evaluations to your property. However, you have the option to choose your own technician. It will not be difficult to find one since this new legislation will provide training to technicians in order to do surveys and evaluations. This technician is then licensed to issue EPC.

To make EPC clearer for you, here are other important things which are not mentioned above that you should know about this new legislation:

  • It was approved by the government last April 16 of this year, and will take effect on June 1

  • The owner will be the one to pay for EPC

  • Without an EPC, you cannot sell your house

  • An EPC lasts for 10 years. If you make changes, then it is necessary to request for new one if you want buyers or tenants consider your home

  • If your house obtained low rating such as F or G, you are not obliged to make any changes. However if you want your house to be appealing to buyers, then you should make improvements

An Energy Performance Certificate will not only be helpful in selling your house to potential buyers, but will make a significant impact on the environment.