Energy Performance Certificates come to Spain

It does get a little more complicated for holiday rentals. The certificate is not necessary for rentals under 4 months; however this is only when the power usage of the property when it is occupied is below 25% of the normal annual consumption.

For example, in the case of somebody who rents out their villa for 6 weeks in the summer and then uses the villa themselves for a few weeks a year the EPC would be needed as the total power usage during the periods the villa was used would be more than 25% of the annual usage.

In THe UK , you pay for the certificate when the assessor come to the property . The certificates is them posted to you and registered with the goverment.

It is my understanding tjat it will be the same here

That is the way it should work, however there are companies around who have been asking for payment at the time of booking. We never ask for payment when you book. In many cases the certificate is paid for once it is issued , or at the time of the assessment, or with some of the companies we are working with, it is a monthly account. With things the way they are in Spain for any business cashflow is king so we try to be as accomodating as possible and go out of oiur way to work with our clients. We will also try to match or beat any price given as long as it is a genuine price given by a registered assessor.  This is about making the whole process as simple and pain free as possible.

 I agree 100% with chrisinspain.

Don't pay for an assessment up front. There are already websites offering an online payment system. 

Pay a deposit yes but only pay the balance on receipt of the certificate.

Always ask to see the Assessors acreditation and their CIF number.

Ecosave

 JohnCarter 

Your ignorance of how EPC operate in the real world in the UK is first class.

I have processed 1000s of EPCs, only posted out around 6 (to a landlord who does not do computers), rest are all emailed or direct access. Never taken a payment or deposit up front, payment always on completion. The surveyor is charged the lodgement fee as soon as the EPC is created. Lodgement is with Landmark (EST in Scotland). Landmark is a private company that holds a government contract, Energy Savings Trust is an impartial organisation (charitable status)

In the UK you have to pass a police check to become accredited, surveyors have id cards issued from their accreditation firm but I have never been asked for it. Is there a similar set up in Spain?

cbrammeld

If you have procesed 1000s of epcs...where do you find the time to write in this blog???

And you must be the only DEA in the UK that does not charge when you visit the property!!!!

Maybe you should visit a shrink......you view of the real world is a bit odd

 JohnCarter you obviously have cognitive problems. I was one of the first independantly qualified DEA in the UK, I work for social landlords, local authorites, energy companies, letting agents, private landlords, solicitors,estate agents, propery managers, YOU DO THE MATHS, SIMPLES

I know many independant DEA that do not charge up front fees but there is a growing online presence that take payment up front. They tend to act as UK wide agents and have a claimed network of DEA. They pay a pittance about £30 for each EPC to the surveyor.

I think chrisinspain is not requiring payment up front, will he be the only DEA is Spain? Of course not, it makes great business sense and a USP.

cbrammeld

Have you got a medal for being one of the first dea in the UK?? ...such a wealth of experience and you still cant see where your flaws lie

 No medal, just a bullsh*t detector for people like you.

cbrammeld

Language cbrammeld Language............Do you use that detector on yourself????

As a landlord, who has had many EPCs done, we have always had the certificates emailed to us and always paid afterwards, upon receipt of the certificates. We've never been asked to pay anything upfront. I think this is the only way to go, and I would be extremely reluctant in Spain to pay anyone for an EPC before I had it in my hands.  It would probably have to be done in person, with the customer holding the money in one hand, the assessor holding the certificate in one of their hands, and the exchange would have to be simultaneous as no-one trusts anyone anymore in Spain and that is generally a sensible approach to take, given the number of cheats around.

 Just a quick reminder before this very helpful and interesting thread goes off-track and gets trashed...

Please do not incite other members into arguments, avoid being offensive and please show respect at all times even when you disagree. Apart from being against the forum rules it totally distracts users from the real purpose of the thread and will inevitable kill the thread, as those who are arguing will be left alone to fight it out amongst themselves and the thread will eventually be locked. So please behave and post relevant info.

Thanks! :)

It would be a shame to stop the thread as it is interesting and usefull to many , Problem is when people invent facts...it stops being usefull and all that happens is that people are misinformed and confused

This thread has certainly created a lot of interest, but the main point of it was to deal with the EPC in Spain, and to try to let people know what is going at this time. There is quite a bit of information to be found about the EPC in Spain, however not everything that can be found is gospel. I visited a really nice elderly couple today to collect information for their EPC. They were quite worried about the whole thing having read about fines, and all sorts of other nasty things. I spent a bit of time with them, explained how it worked and what it’s about and they were a lot happier omce I had talked to them. One of the things they were worried about was how the rating would affect the chances of them selling their property if they had a low rating.  I explained to them that on a day to day basis it will not realistically have any effect on a buyers decision as to whether to choose to buy their property or not. If you find the house of your dreams and it is going to cost a bit more each year to run than one down the road that is not really what you want, are you honestly going to buy the one that is second on your list?

Going back to payments and the way things are done. The way we do it is to book the appointment, do the visit, produce the certificate and then collect payment at the time of handing over the certificate. However in certain cases with letting agents, property management companies and registered key holders we run a monthly account. Cash flow or lack of it will kill a business quicker than anything, so we try to work with people rather than for people. It worries me when companies ask for payment in advance, especially here in Spain

.Anyway it's late, I've got to work tomorrow and I suspect that the bottle of wine we had with dinner might make me ramble on a bit so goodnight

@ chrisinspain 

Why are you selling a service to a nice elderly couple who have no need for it for at least 2 months?

Are you providing them with a Certificacion Energetica de Edificios Existente?

Please explain

ecosave

ecosave asks a good question......why the epcs...when people do not need it???

I have not sold anhybody anything, I have responded to a request from somebody who wanted a certificate. I did explain that the certificate was not needed at this time as this has not yet been made law. They wanted their certificate for peace of mind. I even expalined that they could sell their property before this becomes law so they may not need the certificate at all.

We have been here in Spain for 30 years, I don't need to risk our reputation by pushing sales onto people who do not need things. I hope that has expalined it

http://www.tumbit.com/news/articles/7173-royal-decree-clarifies-spains-energy-efficiency-cerfificate.html

This should clear it up a little bit. As of last Friday 5th April, this is now law in Spain

Well, there's going to be a ridiculous mad rush now and who's to say people can't charge whatever they want in order to profiteer from a person's need to get one of these useless pieces of paper before the 1st of June?

I don't think there is going to be a mad rush, as most people still don't want these. We won't be hiking up our prices, they will remain the same as they have been.