New obligations for property owners regarding energy performance certificates

With regard to the main new obligations imposed by recent legislation on energy performance certificates for buildings, the Panhellenic Federation of Property Owners announces the following:

1. According to Article 12 of Law 4122/2015, all commercial advertisements in the press and on the internet for the sale or rental of a building or building unit that has an energy performance certificate the energy performance index (energy class) of the building, as indicated in the EPC, must be stated.

B. According to Article 12 of Law 4122/2015, as of January 1, 2016, it is now mandatory to issue an energy performance certificate (EPC) for buildings smaller than 50 square meters when they are rented or sold.

C. According to Article 14 of Law 4122/2015, from January 1, 2016, building heating systems must be inspected at least every five (5) years for systems with boilers with a total useful rated output of up to twenty (20) to one hundred kilowatts (100 kW) at least every two (2) years for systems with boilers over one hundred kilowatts (100 kW) (every 4 years if they use gas as fuel).

D. Failure to comply with the above obligations may result in a fine ranging from €1,000 to €10,000, depending on the surface area and use of the building, the degree of fault of the person responsible, etc.

2. According to Article 58 of Law 4342/2015, as of November 9, 2015, for every property lease, the PEA protocol number must be entered in the electronic application “Declaration of Real Estate Lease Information” on the website of the General Secretariat for Information Systems (www.gsis.gr).

The details will be presented by POMIDA Energy Advisor Dr. Apostolos Efthymiadis at the POMIDA Conference in Patras on Sunday, 2211.2016 at 12 noon at the ASTIR Hotel, with former Minister of Environment & Energy Mr. Yannis Maniatis as the keynote speaker.

In its comment, POMIDA notes that it considers the Energy Certificate, proposed by professional and industrial lobbies in Brussels with the aim of discrediting and devaluing existing buildings in Europe, in order to force their owners to incur huge expenses on them, without any guaranteed results, as the most unsuccessful mandatory audit procedure the EU has ever attempted to introduce in Europe!

In countries such as Germany and Finland, research has proven the unreliability of EPCs, especially when they are based on theoretical assumptions rather than the actual energy consumption of buildings. However, to date, no energy savings have been achieved as a result, except for the “savings” of those involved in issuing it, turning it into yet another real “tax” for those who are subject to it. That is why the EU must and has already begun to review its institutional framework, through consultation with the participation of the UIPI, which was recently completed, with the aim of reforming it, hopefully not again to the detriment of owners. .