Advertising of BER – New Guidelines from January 9th 2013
New BER regulations come into effect on January 9th 2013
Previous BER legislation had required that when a property was offered for sale or rent a BER was provided to any prospective purchaser or tenant expressing an interest in the property.
Although the legislation required the production of the BER at the point that the property was on the market, in practice adherence to this was hard to police and in many cases a BER Cert was not instructed until a sale or letting was agreed.
The new legislation which comes into effect on January 9th 2013, mandates the inclusion of BER information in property sale and rental advertisements.
The BER Cert will hence need to be completed before the promotional material (notice board, brochure, advertisement etc.) is finalised.
The regulations are also retrospective so existing Notice boards and advertising material will need to be updated with the BER Ratings.
Apart from the obvious benefit of ensuring that the purchaser/tenant are made aware of the energy performance of the building at the earliest possible point, a natural consequence of this new requirement is that it will be much easier for the authorities to police whether a BER for a particular building exists or not, they can review the publicly available advertising material (including notice boards) and look for compliance to the new regulations rather than the previous arrangement which was to request the BER Cert for a specific property from the agent.
Offences: The Statutory Instrument SI 243 of 2012 signed into law by Minister Hogan outlines the following:
- A person who contravenes any provision of this Part of the Regulations is guilty of an offence.
- Proceedings for an offence under this Part may be brought and prosecuted by the Building Control Authority within whose functional area the dwelling or building other than a dwelling is located.
Penalties: A person found guilty of an offence under the legislation is liable to a class A Fine (Not greater than €5,000 but greater than €4,000) or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or both.
A summary of the advertising provisions are:
- A person offering a property for sale or rent on or after 9th January 2013, or their agent, shall ensure that the energy performance indicator of the current BER certificate for the building is stated in any advertisements, where such advertisements are taken relating to the sale or letting of that building.
- Prospective buyers and renters will be shown the BER rating (Alphanumeric value) along with other prescribed content (dependent on the particular medium) in a prominent location in each specific advertisement
- Where images of the property are used then the presentation of the alphanumeric value will be by way of the prescribed BER Alphanumeric Rating Motif for the particular property rating.
- The BER Alphanumeric Rating Motif artwork files are available in electronic format from the SEAI website.
These requirements apply to advertisements, meaning a public announcement in: newspaper, magazine, brochure, leaflet, advertising notice, vehicle, radio, television, internet (including apps and social media) and direct mail.
BER implementation dates in Ireland
The requirement to provide a BER is being introduced on a phased basis as follows:
New dwellings:
- Dwellings which planning permission applied for on or after 1st January 2007 will require BER certification.
- Transitional BER exemptions for dwellings which planning applied for on before 31st December 2006. These buildings will have to be substantially completed on or before 30th June 2008
New Non-Domestic Buildings:
- The regulations apply to new non-domestic buildings for which planning permission is applied for on or after 1st July 2008.
- Transitional BER exemptions will apply to new non-domestic buildings for which planning permission is applied on or before 30th June 2008 provided the new non-domestic buildings involved are substantially completed by 30th June 2010.
Existing Buildings: (dwellings and other buildings) when offered for sale or rental on or after 1st January 2009 will require a BER certification
Download Legislation Documents
Part L – Technical Guidance Document (pdf approx 82pages)
Part F – Technical Guidance Document (pdf approx 15pages)
European Communities Regulations 2006
Building Regulations (amendment) 2007