New rules for BER

Ratings now have to be prominently displayed on advertisements and For Sale signs, writes Trish Dromey

LOCATION, size and price are always going to be the key deciding factors for house buyers, but updated regulations requiring Building Energy Ratings (BER) to be shown on all property advertisements means that energy performance is now likely to have some influence in buyers’ calculations.

Sellers have been obliged to have a Building Energy Rating - typically costing €100-200 each - on their property since January 2009 — but these were generally not conducted or produced until the sale was about to conclude.

New regulations introduced on Jan 9 have now made it mandatory for BER ratings to be included on all property advertisements. These specify that the rating is to be included on brochures, radio and TV ads, leaflets as well as newspaper and online advertisements and stipulate that the BER rating has to be shown on For Sale or To Let signs.

It is also required that the BER rating has to be prominently displayed in the same font size as the rest of the property information. This means that there is no possibility of slipping in a low BER rating in a smaller typeface, in the hopes that it won’t be noticed! In leaflets, brochures and newspaper and online advertisements, the specific BER number for the property also has to be included.

These very detailed regulations also require that all advertising material use the BER motif supplied by the sustainable energy body SEAI, in order to ensure that they use the correct colour for each of the ratings, going from deep green for the highest A rating, down to alarming red for the poorest G rating.

Failure to comply with these regulations is an offence which carries a significant fine of up to €5,000 for the person selling/letting the house or their agents. Compliance is to be overseen by the building control authority, the relevant local authorities.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, which is responsible for issuing BER certs, has emphasised the change in the regulation which now brings energy performance to the immediate attention of both buyers and renters.

“BER Certs have been required since 2009 but they didn’t have to be made public and it was more challenging for consumers when they had to ask for them,’’ notes SEIA head of information Tom Halpin.

He believes that the prominent display of the ratings is likely to influence buyer behaviour, and says there has already been some indication that properties with a higher rating will be able to achieve higher prices and to sell quicker.

“An ESRI report last year showed some indication of price premium being paid for higher-rated properties, and a Dutch study found that better rated properties will sell quicker,’’ Mr Halpin states. He believes that if a buyer has the choice of two similar houses which have different energy ratings, then it seems likely they are going to opt for the one with the higher rating.

Noting a slight increase in applications for BERs since early January, Mr Halpin says that in the past there was less compliance with the requirement to have BER certs in the rental area than in sales.

One significant change brought by changes in the regulations, is that auctioneers as agents for house sellers now also have to comply with the BER regulations and are liable for the sizeable penalties if they fail to do so.

Ed Carey, chairman of the Residential Property Professional Group of the Society of the Chartered Surveyors Ireland, welcomes the changes, and the enhanced transparency which allows prospective homeowners to make a more informed choice.

He points out that stating the BER rating at the very outset means that you don’t have the situation where a poor rating causes negotiations to be re-opened after a sale price has already been agreed.

Mr Carey believes that the changes are likely to increase the administration and printing costs for agents, and potentially their clients, and says that the SEAI needs an effective informational campaign to inform vendors of their requirement to have a BER undertaken in advance of putting a property on the market.

While welcoming the change, Mr Carey notes that the need for auctioneers to have 15 different ‘For Sale’ signs to accommodate 15 different types of BER rating was proving difficult logistically.

The new regulations, which have come from uence of an EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings, Environment Minister Phil Hogan said this would be a game changer in terms of raising people’s awareness of domestic use energy performance.

It is important he said, firstly because it clearly distinguishes those who don’t comply with statutory obligations and “secondly, the requirement to publicly display the building energy rating will encourage property owners and occupiers, and indeed neighbours in similar properties, to take reasonable steps to ensure their building achieves the optimum rating it can.”