How to get an Energy Efficiency Certificate for your property in Mallorca

How to get an Energy Efficiency Certificate for your property in Mallorca

Did you know... you could be fined for not having an Energy Certificate?

 

Something that most property owners ignore is that when selling or renting your home in Mallorca you are required to have a energy performance certificate (EPC). 

Not only is it compulsory that you have one, but it will rate the efficiency of the building and be a contributing factor to the decision of whether to buy or not buy a property, as well as whether you may or may not let it as a holiday rental.

So, if you are planning to buy, sell or let your home on the island, find out first what the EPC is and how to get hold of it before you start marketing your property.

 

Energy Efficiency Certificate

The Spanish Royal Decree 235-2013 states that all buildings in Spain require an Energy Efficiency Certificate, which has been in operation since the 14th of April 2013, and makes it obligatory for all sale or lease transactions signed from the 1st of June 2013. The document includes all the details pertaining to energy consumption in the building and ultimately aims to ensure and favour properties that are energy efficient. The certificate has a validity of 10 years only, after which time the property owner is required to reapply.

 

Energy Efficiency Rating 

Energy Efficiency Rating is a EU standard, which is calculated by a professional technician to ascertain the average energy consumption of a building (private home, apartment, commercial premises...)  over a normal year and with normal occupation, taking into account all factors, such as heating, lighting, refrigeration...) assigning a rating from A to G, from very efficient to not efficient. The Certificate also includes information on the procedure, building characteristics and potential improvements that can be made. 

 

Who carries out the Energy inspection?

The Certificate can be issued by a technical expert freely chosen by the property owner, who has a professional qualification in thermal installation projects and or drafting building projects (architect or engineer). The inspector will visit the building or property, inspect it and assign you with an energy efficiency rating. He/she will then write up the certificate and either the technician or the property owner are obliged to register the certificate rating at the official Regional Agency assigned to the task. In the Balearics the competent organism is the Dirección General de Energía y Cambio Climático in Palma. 

 

Does my property need an Energy Efficiency Certificate?

All property sale and lease contracts signed from 1 June 2013 require an energy certificate issued and registered by the competent governing body. 

When buildings are constructed, sold or rented, the certificate or a copy of it must be presented to the buyer or tenant. If you are renting and hold a contract signed before this date, you do not require a certificate, but were you to renew the contract then you would need one.

Public buildings with a floor space of more than 250m2 and regularly used by the public also require a certificate.

 

How much can I be fined for not having a Energy Efficiency Certificate

There are three types of sanctions, one mild, one serious and one very serious and you can be fined between €3,000 and €600,000 depending on the severity of the sanction.

A very serious infraction will be when the information in the registration of the certificates is falsified; the property owner acts as a certifying technician or publicizes a certificate that is not registered.

A serious infraction will violate the methodology of calculation of the basic procedure for certification, not present the certificate before the ccaa for registration, display a label that does not correspond to the actual certificate, and sell or rent a property without the seller delivering the current certificate to the buyer or lessee.

Minor infractions include publicizing the sale or rental of homes that must have a certificate without mentioning their qualification, not displaying the efficiency label when it is mandatory or exhibiting one without the minimum format and content, issuing certificates without the minimum information, not complying with the obligations to renew or update certificates, not incorporating the certificate in the Building Book and publicizing the qualification of the project when the finished building already exists.

 

What properties are exempt of this law?

Buildings that are excluded from the law are: officially protected buildings and monuments, places of worship, provisional constructions (two years or less), non-residential sections of industrial buildings, non-residential parts of defence and agricultural buildings, detached buildings with less than 50 m2 of useable floor area, buildings acquired for significant refurbishment work or to be demolished, and buildings that are used for less than four months per year.