Building Energy Rating (BER) Explained
What is Building Energy Rating (BER)?
An EU directive on the energy performance of buildings means all homes will require a Building energy rating certificate (BER). This is effectively an energy label, similar to those found on electrical appliances such as washing machines. A person wishing to sell or rent a house will be required to get an energy rating carried out and to provide prospective buyers or tenants with this information. This will allow potential buyers to take energy performance and energy costs into account when considering what property to purchase or rent.
Who is required to get a BER done?
Landlords and their agents are required by law to have a building energy rating done whenever they offer a property for sale or rent, unless their premises are among a small number of excluded properties (See below);
How long is it valid for? The BER Certificate will be valid for 10 years unless the property is materially altered within that time;
When will a landlord need to get a BER carried out?
From January 2009 landlords will be required to provide a BER to prospective tenants. The BER is required at the time of sale or rental only. This means that if you currently have a tenant in place, the BER will not be required until the next time you make the property available for rental after January 2009.
Who will carry out the BER?
BERs will be carried out by specially trained BER assessors, registered by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI). A list of BER Assessors is available on the SEI website. BER assessors (usually building professionals like architects, engineers etc.) must have successfully completed a training programme. All BER assessors will be required to follow a standardised procedure using an approved calculation methodology.
How will the BER audit be carried out?
A BER of an existing dwelling being offered for sale or letting on or after 1 January 2009 must be carried out by a BER assessor, at the expense of the vendor or landlord - who must provide the resulting BER certificate and advisory report to prospective buyers/tenants.
The BER assessor will normally survey the dwelling to record, for example, the size of the dwelling, the construction, the insulation levels, the types of windows, the ventilation features, details of the heating and hot water systems, etc. This information will then be used to calculate the energy performance of the dwelling and to give it an energy rating.
All BER assessors will be required to follow a standardised procedure using an approved survey and calculation methodology to arrive at a rating.
How much will a BER cost?
The amount of the BER fee will be determined by competition among BER assessors. Prices have been volatile with most of the main players changing prices frequently in response to market conditions. In general, prices have fluctuated within the €180-€260 range depending upon the size of the property.
Who Pays the Cost of a BER Certificate?
Any fee for a BER for a dwelling will be payable by the owner (directly or through their agent) and is responsible for any fees payable to the BER assessor.
What if I get a poor rating?
There is no penalty for getting a low rating. However potential buyers or tenants may opt to purchase or rent a property with a better energy rating, which will result in lower energy usage costs. New properties must comply with the conversation of fuel and energy provisions of the building regulations.
What Can Be Done to Improve a BER?
The advisory report which accompanies the BER certificate will contain recommendations on how to improve the energy performance of the dwelling. The SEI Home Energy Saving Scheme www.sei.ie/hes is now in operation offering grants towards home improvement to owner occupiers and landlords);
This may encourage the carrying out of energy performance improvement works either:
(i) before the sale or letting of the dwelling, in order to improve the BER/ marketability; or
(ii) after the sale by the purchaser of the dwelling, in order to reduce home heating bills and/or improve home comfort.
Building energy performance options might include measures such as:
insulating the hot water cylinder and pipework;
increasing the insulation in the walls/attic/floor;
installing advanced energy efficient glazing;
measures to achieve controlled healthy ventilation;
replacing an old or inefficient boiler with a more efficient boiler;
installing modern heating controls;
installing certain types of renewable energy heating systems.
For this reason, the advisory report will be a key document. It may be particularly useful to those who have just purchased an existing dwelling which they plan to improve or remodel in their early stages of occupation.
How long will a BER remain valid
A BER for a building will be valid for 10 years from the date of its being issued, unless there is a material change in the building in the meantime which could affect its energy performance – for example an extension to the building, a significant change to the building fabric or a change in the heating system or fuel used. Therefore if a property which has received a BER is placed on the market within 10 years of that BER being issued, and the property has experienced no relevant alteration in the meantime, then that same BER may be used by the building owner for the purposes of meeting their obligations under the Regulations.
My building is a listed building - will I need a BER?
Listed buildings are exempt from the requirement for a BER
What Impact Will BER Have on landlords and tenants?
BERs will mean that anyone renting a property will be able to check the energy performance of the property and get an indication of the annual running costs. Therefore it will allow people to take energy costs into consideration in their renting decisions. This is becoming more and more important as energy costs are increasing all the time.
BERs will allow house hunters to compare the energy performance of two different houses on an equal scale. It will allow you to compare two houses that on the surface appear very similar such as two 3 bed semi d’s or equally two very different houses, such as a 2 bed apartment and a 5 bed house.
The advisory report that will accompany a BER Certificate will provide information to homeowners on how to improve the energy performance of their property and thereby its comfort and affordability, and enhancing its value and sustainability.
SEI expects that BER will ultimately improve energy awareness in the property market both for home buyers and developers and this awareness can be expected over time to place a somewhat higher value on more energy efficient properties, and by implication to encourage/ provoke owners of less energy efficient properties to take steps to upgrade them.
What is the formal record of a BER assessment? SEI has a formal register of BER assessments which is available online to persons who have a BER number or an MPRN. This is the formal record. In addition, the BER assessor will issue a BER Certificate to the owner of the property who has commissioned the BER assessment.
What does a BER Certificate look like?
click here for a sample BER Certificate
For information on the Home Energy Grants scheme click here