Owners of poorly insulated houses, you have been warned! As part of its hunt for energy-intensive housing, the government published this Thursday in the Official Journal two new texts – a decree followed by an order – which could well complicate the sale for you. As of September 1, owners of single-family homes and condominium apartments (i.e. buildings not divided into co-ownership and belonging to a single person, natural or legal) have the obligation to carry out an energy audit of their home before any sale if it turns out that it is classified F or G by the energy performance diagnosis (DPE), which is also mandatory before any sale.
If you own a detached house considered as an energy sieve, you will need in addition to the realization of an ECD, to have a complete audit of your home done before selling it. This new constraint aims to better inform buyers about the state and energy consumption of their own future purchase and to formalize in black and white the work necessary to get out of the sieve status. Note that apartments and houses located in condominiums, even with low ratings, are not affected by this audit. Initially, single-ownership accommodation classified F and G are covered by this audit obligation. Will follow from January 1, 2025, E housing, then D on January 1, 2034.
An estimated cost of 700 euros
This audit, introduced by the Climate and Resilience law of 2021, is valid for five years and is intended to be much more complete than the DPE at the origin of the housing rating. Consisting of twenty pages, this document should cost the seller about 700 euros, in addition to the other mandatory diagnoses. His role ? Evaluate in detail the annual energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of a dwelling. The audit must include a precise diagram of heat losses and above all provide detailed and budgeted work proposals item by item (heating, ventilation, insulation of walls, low floors, roofing, exterior joinery to be replaced, etc.) with the key to energy savings.
These proposals take the form of two work and cost scenarios: the first taking into account one-off works, according to the key items to be improved, the second based on a comprehensive renovation, in one go of the housing screened. The decree sets the final objective of achieving energy performance B at the end of the work (or failing that in certain specific cases, of gaining at least two classes: going from G to E for example).
This audit was initially to become mandatory from January 1, 2022, but its entry into force has been postponed by the Ministry of Housing at the request of professionals in the sector, diagnosticians in mind. Making it compulsory from the beginning of September makes people cringe, especially a few days before the constitution of a new government. “The energy audit should not be held hostage to a short-term political agenda”, denounces the federation of real estate diagnosticians Sidiane. Pointing to an “unfair decision”, “motivated by the electoral calendar alone and without taking into account the concerns of the sector”, the union pleads for a postponement of the measure to January 1, 2023, “the only credible and tenable date” according to him while he estimates the number of goods labeled F and G far higher than that estimated by the government.
After the hiccups of the DPE last fall, “for the second time in a year, the government is unilaterally launching regulations and a tool that is not yet finalized, not made reliable and about which the sector has not been able to prepare correctly (…) The methods and software for calculating and costing work are not stabilized”, condemns the professional organization.
This calendar “has nothing to do with the elections, we retort to the Ministry of Housing. The professionals were all concerted. As for the date set at September 1, “it is not a surprise and seems technically tenable, this gives professionals time to train and, if necessary, a progress report is planned”.