Energy Certificate is required to rent a house to tourists
10.07.2021Energy certificate is now mandatory to rent a house to tourists. There are fines if you do not have a valid certificate.
At the beginning of this month on June 2, 2021, a Spanish Royal Decree came into effect on the energy efficiency certification (CEE/EPC) of buildings that could be a landslide for the holiday rental market.
On June 1, the Royal Decree 390/2021 was published in the BOE (Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado), which approves the basic procedure for the certification of the energy efficiency of buildings. Because of these regulations, it becomes mandatory to have the energy certificate of the house in order to be able to rent it out to tourists.
The INE estimates that there are currently around 295,000 holiday homes in Spain (and, as sources from the Ministry of Ecology and Demographics indicate), all owners have been required to advertise their properties with the energy certificate since June 2, when the legislation came into effect. and include it in the leases. This is also mandatory in case of sale. The Autonomous Communities will be responsible for registering the certificates, monitoring compliance and, where appropriate, imposing appropriate financial sanctions.
The regulation provides for a sanctions regime with amounts ranging from 300 to 6,000 euros, depending on the offense committed. Specifically, there are three parts: for minor violations the fines will be between 300 and 600 euros, while for serious violations the penalty will be between 601 and 1,000 euros. And if it is a very serious violation, the fine will be between 1,001 and 6,000 euros. This means that the amounts that apply to the sale or rental of a first home or second homes are maintained.
According to the Royal Legislative Decree 7/2015, these are the situations in the field of energy certification of buildings that fall within each case:
Very serious infringements where the CCAA can already give fines between 300 and 6,000 euros.
Falsification of information when issuing or registering energy efficiency certificates.
Acting as a certifying technician without meeting the legal requirements to do so.
Act as an independent agent authorized to verify the energy efficiency certification of buildings without having the required authorization from the competent authority.
Advertising the sale or rental of buildings or parts of buildings, with an energy efficiency class not supported by a duly registered and in force certificate.
Also, the serious infringements referred to in section 4 (serious infringements) will be very serious infringements if the infringer has been heavily sanctioned for the same type of infringement in the three years prior to committing them.
The fines will not only apply to owners, but also to platforms that specialize in holiday rentals.
The amendments included in this Royal Decree do not only apply to holiday homes (which are considered private residences), but also to others such as hotels, youth hostels, guest houses, motels, tourist rental buildings, student houses, retirement homes...; categories that are considered to be public housing, insofar as they have a total useful surface area of more than 500 m2.
This also includes prison buildings, buildings for sports purposes (gyms, sports centres...), places of worship, buildings for passenger transport (airports, stations...), commercial buildings (shops, supermarkets, department stores, shopping centers and the like), restaurants ( cafes, bars, restaurants...) or cultural buildings (theatres, cinemas, museums, auditoriums, conference centers, exhibition spaces, libraries...).
Exempt buildings include, for example, buildings that are officially protected for their architectural or historical value, temporary buildings with an expected useful life equal to or less than two years, or non-residential industrial, defense and agricultural buildings. Also exempt are detached buildings whose useful surface is less than 50 m2. This exemption applies to all residences, including holiday homes.
However, Juan López-Asiain, head of the technical office of the General Council of Technical Architecture (CGATE), reminds - contrary to the 2013 regulations, which specified that those parts of existing residential buildings that are used for less than four months a year are exempt were obliged to have an energy certificate, the new procedure for certification of energy-efficient houses, including those with a limited period of use, including second-use properties and summer houses - does not exclude from this obligation.
How do you obtain the energy certificate and how long is it valid?
It is primarily a document containing the qualification of the energy efficiency and energy consumption of a building or part thereof (such as a house), as well as procedural information, a description of the energetic characteristics and recommendations for achievable improvements.
According to the Ministry, it is a fundamental tool when it comes to knowing the energy performance of a home as it collects information about the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of the same. With this information, the property owner or occupier can evaluate and compare energy efficiency and the integration of renewable energies, and make decisions that enable energy savings in buildings. In addition, energy certification makes it possible to appreciate this energy performance and potential savings, as the decision to rent or sell the property will also be influenced by this information.”
The rating must be registered with an official body of the relevant autonomous community in order to have certificate status. The energy certificate must be issued by a qualified technician, freely chosen by the owner, who has an academic and professional qualification for drafting projects, directing works or directing the execution of construction works. That is, architects, technical architects, engineers and technical engineers.
In this sense, the head of the technical bureau of the CGATE recalls that "as in the case of the sale or rental of a house or a property, the procedure of obtaining the energy certificate of the tourist apartment before renting or transferring it, would consist of contacting a qualified technician with a qualified construction profession to carry out this document.
Once obtained, it must be registered with the official body of the Autonomous Community where the property is located in order to have the character of certificate.