Energy Efficiency Certificate: Possible Fines

11 de June de 2021

Since 2013, it has been mandatory to have an energy efficiency certificate for properties. This is essential if you want to sell or rent a home. It does not matter if it is a new or second-hand home, a home in a community building or a single-family home. Not having this energy efficiency certificate can result in a fine.

The fines and economic sanctions that we can receive for not having this certificate are of a different nature. You must have this energy efficiency certificate before selling or renting a home and before advertising it directly. This certificate must be carried out by certified technical personnel for this purpose.

You must also register this energy certificate with the competent regional bodies. This is, obligatorily, one of the first steps you must take to be able to sell or rent your house.

Today we explain in detail the dangers of not having the energy certificate.

What buildings are exempt?

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Contenido

1 Consequences of not having an energy efficiency certificate
2 You need the energy efficiency certificate
3 Amount of Fines for not Having an Energy Certificate
4 Types of infractions for not having an energy certificate

Consequences of not having an energy efficiency certificate

The obligation to have the energy efficiency certificate is regulated by a Royal Decree on Energy Certification of 2013. It requires the corresponding certificate to be available if you want to put a home up for sale or offer it for rent.

This energy efficiency certificate is what provides the potential buyer or tenant of the home with the information they need to make a decision about their purchase or rental.

Not offering this information to the buyer or tenant is a serious matter. We are denying that person the possibility of calculating the expenses they will have in energy consumption and therefore it is considered a fact of relative gravity.

In addition, the information on said certificate: the energy categorization of the house, must be included in any type of advertisement to sell or rent the house. Failure to do so may also be a fault and a danger of receiving the corresponding sanction and fine for not doing so.

Although it does not yet seem to be very well understood by sellers or those who want to rent their house, the energy consumption of the house is an important piece of information. And it has to be advertised in the same way as information about the price, location or size of the house.

You need the energy efficiency certificate

Therefore, as we have already explained, you need to have the energy efficiency certificate. And as you can assume, you must have it before selling or renting the house. It is not enough to have it at the time of signing the corresponding rental contracts or when the sale occurs.

This is information that you must have in advance to be able to offer this information to everyone who is interested in buying or renting your house.

The penalties for this and the corresponding fines could reach up to 6,000 euros in the case of serious infractions. That is why we recommend that, if you are going to sell your house or put it up for rent, before making any announcement about it, get your corresponding energy efficiency certificate.

Do not try to save this expense and leave it until the end since the economic consequences could be very high for you.

Get your Energy Certification

GET IT ONLINE

Amount of Fines for not Having an Energy Certificate

The fines can be high if they are considered very serious offenses. The typology of the sanctions and the fines derived are included in the Royal Decree on Energy Efficiency that we have already mentioned.

According to this legislation, infractions can be minor, serious or very serious. The amount to pay for the fine would be the following:

Minor infraction: fine of 300 to 600 euros.
Serious infraction: fine of 601 to 1000 euros.
Very serious infraction: fine of 1001 to 6000 euros.

In addition, it will be considered that if the benefit obtained by the infraction is greater than the fine, the amount will be increased to equal said benefit for the infraction.

Types of infractions for not having an energy certificate

We have already explained before that the penalties can range from 300 euros to 6000 for not having an energy certificate for the house at the time of starting its sale or rental.

This amount will vary depending on whether the fault is minor, serious or very serious. We are going to explain what types of infractions would be considered the different types of faults:

Minor infractions for not having an energy certificate:
- If the energy certificate does not contain sufficient information and it is lacking or insufficient.
- Having an expired energy certificate.
- Putting a home up for sale or rent without having the corresponding energy efficiency certificate.
- That the energy efficiency label does not meet the legally established characteristics.
- Any other infraction that the competent bodies consider to violate in a minor way what is included in the Royal Decree mentioned above.
Serious offenses for not having an energy certificate:
- Showing an energy efficiency label different from the one included in the certificate.
- Renting or selling a home without delivering the regulatory energy efficiency certificate to the new user.
- Not registering the energy certificate with the competent body of the corresponding autonomous community.
- Not having obtained the energy certificate in accordance with the procedure established by law.
- Having several minor sanctions accumulated during the year prior to the new sanction will also result in a serious infraction.
Very serious infractions:
- That the certificate is not made by an approved certifying technician in accordance with the law.
- Delivering falsified documentation when carrying out the certificate.
- Selling or renting a home with an expired certificate or without having it directly.
- Due to accumulation of serious infractions during the period of 3 years prior to the moment of the new sanction.
- Any other infraction that the competent bodies consider to be of special gravity in accordance with current legislation.

Ultimately, you need to have this energy efficiency certificate from minute 0 when you are considering selling or renting your new or second-hand home.