Spanish Real Estate Law and legal advice. The new Building’s Energy Performance Certificate needed when buying selling, renting or leasing a property in Spain.

In compliance with the European directives 2002/91/EC and 2010/31/EU, Spain has granted the Royal Decree 235/2013 concerning the basic procedure for certification of energy efficiency or performance of buildings, which has been published on the 13th /04/2013, and is already in force.

This Royal Decree establishes the obligation to deliver to purchasers or users and tenants of buildings, the energy performance certificate, which must include information for owners and tenants to compare and know the energy efficiency of the properties they intend to buy or rent. The purpose of this regulation is to encourage the properties’ energy efficiency.

This new law approves the basic procedure to achieve a certification for energy performance of buildings and the methodology for calculating it. It applies to both to new buildings, and those that already exist that are sold or leased to a new tenant or buyers.
Not all buildings must get the certification. Industrial, agricultural buildings, such as workshops, and factories not destined for residential uses, are exempt. Also, buildings or parts of them with a total useful area lower than 50 square meters; buildings purchased for major renovations or demolition, or those whose use is less than four months a year, etc., do not require the certificate.

The building developer or owner is responsible for ordering the certification of the energy performance of the building, and to keep the relevant documentation. It is possible to get one certificate for a whole building which includes different flats, and for Villas (chalets) it is possible to base the certificate on the assessment of another similar building, as far as the technician can ensure such correspondence.

The certificate must identify the building or its part certified, including its cadastral reference, indicating the procedure for rating the energy performance, description of the building’s energy characteristics: heating systems, lighting, etc. The energy performance must be displayed by means of the energy label or certificate. The energy efficiency label or certificate of energy performance, must be included in any offer for sale or lease.

If you are buying a property in Spain you should be aware that the original energy performance certificate must be handed over to you, and if you are renting you should be provided with a copy of it. If you are buying, selling, leasing or renting a property in Spain, our firm can advise regarding this or any other legal issue.

The information provided in this article is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues.

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