New year, new energy label

With a new year slowly coming into sight, new or changed regulations always come into play. One notable change this time is the energy label for homes, which will be determined in a completely different way. In addition, if you offer a home for sale or rent through an advertisement in commercial media, you will now be required to include a valid energy label in that advertisement. Until now, this obligation only existed if a valid energy label had been issued.

So most seller-owners are ‘energy label required’, although there are a few exceptions (e.g. monuments). The most important change, however, is that the Simplified Energy Label will disappear and be replaced by a more extensive label. This will be determined after examination by a qualified energy advisor. He or she takes a look inside the house and looks at the dimensions, the existing installations (boiler, solar poles, etc.) and the insulation. This will still take 1 to 2 hours, including determining the calculation for the label and recommendations for improvement. These energy consultants will determine their own price, but it is assumed that such a survey will cost about €100 for an apartment and about €190 for a single-family house.
Incidentally, you can apply for the current Simplified Energy Label at a much lower cost until 31 December of this year (via www.energielabelvoorwoningen.nl) and after it has been awarded, it will still be valid for 10 years if the entire process is completed before 1 April 2021. Here you fill in data about the house and consumption yourself and these will then be assessed remotely by an expert.

Of course, everyone has to consider for themselves whether it is worthwhile to go for the simple label. It saves costs, but on the other hand, the new method offers more insight and perhaps also good advice for reducing energy costs. And of course a better energy performance has an effect on the selling price of the house. The degree to which this is done depends of course on the savings achieved, but also on the value a new owner attaches to it.