On June the 1st the law RD 235/2013 from the 5th of April becomes effective which approves the basic procedure regarding the certification of the energy efficiency of buildings. This law forces to deliver a certificate of energy efficiency in all purchases or rentals.

What are the real estate agency’s obligations regarding this certificate?
Article 12.2 sets:

Article 12: Energy efficiency label
1. Obtaining the energy efficiency certificate grants the right to use this label during the period of the certificate’s validity. The contents the label is based on are available in the corresponding document recorded in the register created for these purposes according to the article 3.
2. The label has to be included in any offer, promotion or advertising regarding the sale or rental of the building or parts of it. It has to be stipulated clearly and precisely if this label is related to the project or the building already finished.

This means that those who promote, advertise or offer the sale or rental of a building have to include the energy efficiency label to their offers.

What about the label?
Although it is not defined by law, in our opinion the label is the certificate of energy efficiency that has passed through the corresponding register of the Ministry of Industry or the regional authority. The problem is that right now this register does not exist yet.


What happens meanwhile there is no register?

At this juncture we do not know what will happen in this case, but it might be possible that a transition period will be granted in order to help the real estate sector to comply with this new obligation.

Is there any penalty for the real estate agencies infringing the new obligation?
Based on the consumer protection (which is part of the administrative law) it is questionable if any penalty can be imposed on real estate agencies which fail to comply the law especially taking into consideration that until now the register has not yet been created.
In any case it is advisable to attach the label that informs about the energy efficiency of a real estate as soon as the corresponding register is created.