Energy performance certificate to sell a house in Spain: cost and who pays

What the certificate is and when you need one

It’s a document signed by a qualified assessor after visiting your home. It rates the property’s energy efficiency on a scale from A to G and comes with a label, which is what buyers see in listings, plus recommendations for improving the rating. If you’ve sold in the UK, it’s the Spanish equivalent of an EPC.

You need one when you sell an existing home or rent it to a new tenant. The obligation sits with the owner, who must commission it and keep the paperwork. If you already have a valid one, you don’t need a new one.

The exceptions are few and rarely apply to an ordinary home:

• Officially protected buildings, where improving efficiency would unacceptably alter their character.
• Free-standing buildings, not touching any other, with less than 50 m² of usable floor area.
• Properties bought to be demolished or for a major renovation. In that case the owner files a sworn statement (declaración responsable) with the regional authority.

Who can issue the certificate in Spain

A competent technician (técnico competente). The rules changed on 23 July 2026, when an amendment to the national regulation came into force. Since then, the following can certify an existing home:

• Architects, building engineers (arquitectos técnicos) and engineers qualified to design or manage building works.
• Other university graduates in technical and scientific fields (other engineering branches, physics, chemistry, environmental science, maths and so on), who generally also need to pass an official energy certification course.
• Holders of a higher vocational qualification covering energy certification, again with the course.

Before starting work, the technician files a sworn statement with their regional authority, which lets them work anywhere in Spain. The amendment also creates a national register of competent technicians.

One thing worth knowing: the technician must visit your home, no more than three months before issuing the certificate. If someone offers to do it from photos and a form, without coming round, be wary. The regional authority also checks registered certificates by sampling, and those checks can include a site visit.

How much it costs and who pays

The seller pays. The law puts the duty to commission it on the owner, and the registration fee is also charged to the owner.

There are two parts to the cost:

• The technician’s fee. There’s no official tariff, so each professional sets their own price. In a price study published in August 2023, the Spanish consumers’ association OCU found average prices by city ranging from under €90 to over €150, and differences of more than €100 to certify the same home. Size, installations and location all play a part.
• The registration fee. In the Valencia region it’s €10 per home.

When you ask for a quote, check that it includes the visit and the registration. Those two things are what separate a valid certificate from a piece of paper you can’t use.

If your home already has a valid certificate, for instance one done when you let it out, check the date. You may not need to pay anything.

Registering the certificate in the Valencia region

The certificate is only legally valid once it’s registered with your regional authority. Here that means the Registro de Certificación de Eficiencia Energética de Edificios de la Comunitat Valenciana, run by IVACE, the regional government agency that handles energy.

How it works:

• It’s filed online, together with the electronic file of the energy report. The owner can do it, or someone the owner authorises, such as the technician.
• The fee is also paid online: €10 per home (house or flat), €5 for an update to an existing certificate.
• If the region sets no other deadline, national rules give one month from the date of issue to file it.

Once it’s registered, you get the official label. That’s the one to use in your listing.

The energy certificate at a glance

The label in your listing and at the notary

The energy rating must appear in every offer, promotion and advert for the sale. That applies to whoever publishes it: the owner, the estate agent, the property portal, the sign on the balcony or a brochure.

So you need the certificate before you list, not before you sign. Leaving it to the end is a common mistake, especially when selling from abroad.

At completion, a copy of the registered certificate and the label are attached to the sale contract. Selling without giving the buyer a valid, registered certificate is a serious offence.

What the letters mean for buyers

The scale runs from A, the most efficient, to G, the least. The rating is based on two indicators: non-renewable primary energy use, in kWh per square metre per year, and CO2 emissions, in kilos per square metre per year. That’s why the label usually shows two letters, one for each, and they don’t have to match.

What’s worth understanding:

• It isn’t the electricity bill. The calculation assumes standard use and occupancy, not what the people living there actually spend.
• It reflects when the home was built. The certificate states which energy-saving rules applied at the time of construction.
• It comes with recommendations. The technician must suggest technically feasible improvements with an estimated payback period: insulation, windows, replacing equipment, controls.

For a buyer, the letter is a hint of what it will cost to keep the home comfortable and of works they might want to do. For you as the seller, it’s one more detail in the listing. A low rating doesn’t stop a sale, but the asking price should match the home’s real condition.

Fines for not having one

Offences are handled by the regional authority, and national law classifies them like this:

• Minor, €300 to €600: advertising the sale without stating the energy rating, not renewing the certificate when due, or showing a label without the legal format.
• Serious, €601 to €1,000: selling without giving the buyer a valid, registered certificate, not filing it for registration, or showing a label that doesn’t match the certificate.
• Very serious, €1,001 to €6,000: advertising a rating not backed by a registered, valid certificate, or falsifying information.

If the profit gained from the offence is higher than the fine, the penalty can rise to that amount. Repeat offences move up a category.

Frequently asked questions