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Energy Performance Certificates – EPCs

The latest amendment to hit our tiny island is the recent introduction of the Energy Performance Certificate – or EPC. An EPC is a certificate which shows how energy efficient a building is, and can only be produced by a certified EPC Professional (Engineer or Architect). The Technical Guidance for the EPC was issued in 2007 and, as from 2009, an EPC is to be issued whenever a property is sold or rented out. However this hasn’t been property enforced – yet. As from October 2012, they will be enforced throughout the Maltese Islands.

So what exactly is an EPC? Simply put, it’s a certificate showing how energy efficient a property is. On the other hand, there’s a lot of information that goes into the drafting up of an EPC, and there are several aspects that affect the outcome of the certificate. The first page of the EPC shows a rating bar, scaling from green to red and indicating the status of the inspected property with an arrow. As you would expect a rating on or near the green part of the scale is good, whereas one more towards the red scale indicates high running costs.

The process of getting this rating is as follows: an EPC certified architect or engineer will visit your property and carry out a very detailed inspection, and by detailed, we mean he’ll be checking the height of the ceilings, the thickness of the walls, the number of air conditioning units on the property, whether it’s North or South facing etc. There are instances where the architect may need to make certain assumptions, for example, the windows have not yet been installed, but the owner has advised that these would be double-glazed. All this information is meticulously inputted into software issued by the Government (in other words, identical for all). The software takes all the information and produces an energy rating. The certificate needs to be renewed every 10 years, and presented whenever the property is sold.

Now you’re wondering what all this is going to cost you. Well, the costs are never the same, depending on the type of property and its size. Charges start from €300 upwards – we’ve even seen a €700 charge for a large villa. And if you’re not happy with your rating and decide to make changes to the property, you’d need to have the property re-inspected and another EPC issued. In effect, you have to pay the costs for another EPC, though this would be less than the first one as most of the information is already on file. At the end of the day, a good EPC rating may possibly be used as a marketing tool.

So what can you do to get your property positively rated? Here a few things that we learnt will keep your rating towards green:

  • Small windows
  • High ceilings
  • Thickness of walls (ideally double)
  • Colour of external walls
  • Number of AC’s (a lower amount means less consumption of electricity)
  • Well
  • Insulation on water pipes
  • Solar pipes
  • Double glazed windows
  • Weather stripping
  • North facing (less sun, less heat)
  • Energy saving bulbs

Remember, the EPC’s are going to be enforced in Malta in just a few months time. The Maltese banks are already asking for a copy of the property’s EPC before approving home loans.

If you have any questions or would like more information on EPC’s, be sure to contact us on [email protected]