Energy certificates issued between January and September 2013 dropped by 18.3% compared to the same period the year before.
Energy certification is now an unavoidable reality in the national house sales market, according to information from ADENE – the energy agency charged with running the scheme.
Some 52,700 certificates were issued in accordance with the Energy Certification regulations during the period, a significant decline over 2012.
Cumulatively, since the scheme started in June 2007, to September 2013, 613,000 certificates have been issued, 90% of which were for domestic housing.
The latest law change has heralded the unwelcome fact that certificates now must be issued before the sales process for a property gets underway.
Estate Agencies and householders now can be fined foolishly large sums for non-compliance with a law that has no basis in common sense. This has acted as a barrier for property owners who, if struggling for money, are not able to afford the significant cost of certification leaving them in an impasse and likely to try to sell their property themselves, but still open to being caught and fined.
More illogically, rental properties now must have an energy certificate before a rental contract can be registered at Finanças. This is serving to boost the market in unregistered rentals with consequent affects to the country's tax take.
The system of certification is an EC imperative but the unnecessary twist by the Portuguese Government, making pre-instruction certification a legal obligation, lacks fundamental analysis.
