Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is a BER?
2. What does a BER Certificate look like?
3. What information does the BER Certificate hold?
4. What are the benefits of a BER?
5. If my rating is very low, do I need to improve my building?
6. Does the rating take account of how efficiently I use energy in my building?
7. cal a BER Certificate?
8. What will happen if I do not obtain a BER for my building as required by law?
9. Are any buildings exempt from having a BER Cert?
10. What is a BER requirement under the HES scheme?
11. What grant is available for undertaking a BER?
12. Was the BER grant originally €200?
13. Why is a BER now required?
14. When must the BER be undertaken?
15. Who can do a BER Assessment?
16. How is a BER carried out?
17. How long will the assessment take?
18. How long will a BER remain valid?
19. BER assessments are required to be carried out in a fully independent manner. Can BER Assessors rate buildings belonging to themselves, immediate family members, friends, or employers?
20. In what way was the requirement to provide BER certificates introduced?
21. What impact will BERs have on owners selling or renting a building?
22. Who are the SEAI?
23. What is SEAI's role as "Issuing Authority"?
24. How much does a BER Assessment cost?

1. What is a BER?

A BER (Building Energy Rating) is a standard calculation of the energy performance of a building, produced by a qualified assessor using appropriate computer software approved by the SEAI. However, a detailed building survey is first required by an SEAI registered BER Assessor in order to ascertain the energy efficiency of the building envelope construction, as well as the building services installed. A BER certificate is very similar to the energy label found on new kitchen appliances, and it has a varying scale from A-to-G. A-rated buildings being the most energy efficient, and G-rated buildings being the least energy efficient.

2. What does a BER Certificate look like?

A typical BER (Building Energy Rating) Certificate can be viewed here, along with an explanation of each section.

3. What information does the BER Certificate hold?

BER Certificates contain the following information: A. The BER for the dwelling/building. B. The building owner's name and the address of the building. C. The BER Number. D. The date of Issue E. The date the BER is valid till. F. The BER Assessor Number. G. The Assessor Company Number. H. The rating of the dwelling. I. A Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions Indicator. TYPICAL BER CERTIFICATE INFO.

4. What are the benefits of a BER?

A BER clarifies the energy performance of a building for prospective buyers and/or tenants, and this is intended to allow them to make fully informed choices with respect to a building's energy efficiency, before proceeding with a sale or tenancy agreement.

5. If my rating is very low, do I need to improve my building?

No. A BER Certificate is designed to provide the prospective purchaser or tenant of a property with information about the energy efficiency characteristics of a particular building. It simply ensures that the purchaser or tenant knows whether they are getting an energy-efficient building or not.

6. Does the rating take account of how efficiently I use energy in my building?

No. A BER is an assessment of the energy efficiency of a building. It does not take into account the energy usage behaviours of the current occupants. The calculation methodology makes certain assumptions about how the users of any particular building would use hot water, heating, lighting, etc.

7. Who needs a BER Certificate?

Since the 1st of January 2009, a BER certificate has become compulsory for all homes and commercial properties being sold or rented. A BER certificate has been compulsory for almost all new homes since 2008. The law obligates both a seller and his/her agent to provide these certificates to the prospective purchasers/tenants of all properties. In addition, it should be noted that from the 8th of June 2010, BER Certificates are now required by the SEAI after Home Energy Saving (HES) Scheme grant improvement works have been fully completed. Please note that there is a €50 grant available from the SEAI for such BER Assessments.

8. What will happen if I do not obtain a BER for my dwelling as required by law?

If you do not comply with a BER requirement you will be liable, on conviction in the District Court, to a maximum fine of €5,000. Failure to secure a BER certificate at the proper time could hinder or delay the legal completion of a sale or letting or a future disposal of the relevant dwelling.

9. Are any buildings exempt from having a BER Cert?

Yes, there are exemptions for certain categories of buildings, e.g. protected structures and certain temporary buildings (Ref. S.I. No. 666 of 2006). A summary of the main exemptions is as follows: " National monuments, and protected structures; " Stand alone buildings of less than 50m2; " Buildings used as places of worship; " Temporary buildings; " Industrial and agricultural buildings not intended for human occupancy where the installed heating capacity does not exceed 10W/m2; " New dwellings for which planning permission was applied for on, or before, the 31st of December 2006, and where substantial work has been completed by the 30th of June 2008; " New buildings, other than a dwelling, for which planning permission was applied for on, or before, the 30th of June 2008, and where substantial work has been completed by the 30th of June 2010 (except when such building is offered for a second or subsequent sale or letting); " Certain buildings / dwellings developed subject to the requirements of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (milestone dates similar to the above).

10. What is the BER requirement under the HES scheme?

The Home Energy Saving scheme provides grant aid to homeowners towards upgrades of roof insulation, wall insulation, and heating / heating control systems. In order to measure the impact of the HES programme, SEAI has introduced a requirement for homeowners to undertake a BER after the upgrade works have been completed. This BER is a standard BER, undertaken in accordance with the prevailing guidelines for BER of existing homes. The BER assessment is to be completed by assessors further to a site visit after HES works have been completed, and carried out strictly within the rules provided in the BER Assessor's Code of Practice, the DEAP Methodology and the DEAP Survey Guide. The BER will reflect the actual energy rating of the house following installation of HES upgrade works, and must be published on the NAS database.

11. What grant is available for undertaking a BER?

A homeowner is only entitled to BER funding of €100 once per home. This funding will be applied to the Homeowner's grant application, automatically, provided that they have never applied previously for BER funding. They will be informed during the online grant application process if BER funding is available for their home, or as part of the "Letter of Grant Offer" if applied through the post.

12. Was the BER grant originally €200?

Before the introduction of the mandatory BER there was a grant of €200 available for homeowners who wished to undertake a "Before" and "After" BER which necessitated two site visits by the assessor. Given that it is now only required to undertake a BER after the upgrade works, the selected assessor should only need to visit the home once and so the costs should be significantly reduced.

13. Why is a BER now required?

The HES programme has proved to be extremely popular with homeowners, with over 60,000 applications processed to date. However, Ireland has ambitious energy reduction and climate change targets to be met in 2020. If achieved, our dependence on imported fossil fuels will greatly reduce along with lower energy bills for homeowners. To meet these challenging targets we need to both incentivise and inform householders about steps that can be taken to reduce energy usage, while understanding the thermal efficiency of Ireland's housing stock. Making a BER mandatory will help deliver on both of these aims.

14. When must the BER be undertaken?

The BER assessment must be conducted after the HES upgrade works are completed. It is up to the homeowner to select you and request a BER assessment, once they have completed all the works for which they have applied for under the HES grant. However in instances where Homeowners applied before the 8th of June and selected the 'before and after' BER grant, you are still obliged to undertake a before and after BER, which will result in two site visits and two BERs being published on NAS.

15. Who can do a BER Assessment?

BERs can only be carried out by suitably qualified persons who have been trained in accordance with the requirements of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). When a person has trained to become a BER assessor and subsequently passes the appropriate examinations, he/she then signs a code of conduct and applies to SEAI for registration. Please note that separate registrations are required for domestic and non-domestic (commercial) BER Assessors. The pre-requisites to become a BER Assessor for Non-Domestic buildings are significantly higher than those for new and existing dwellings. This is due to the fact that the SEAI has determined that an award of a level-8 honours degree in a building/engineering related discipline is required for such assessors. All BER Assessors employed by PLE Services are fully compliant with these procedures. It is an offence for persons not fully registered with SEAI as a BER Assessor to carry out a BER assessment. Please be aware that such persons cannot actually issue a valid BER Certificate.

16. How is a BER carried out?

The SEAI registered BER Assessor must carry out a full building survey in order to record the major physical components of the building, and the construction materials used. This includes: insulation levels; window types; ventilation features; air-tightness; details of the installed building services systems (heating, hot water generation, lighting, etc.). This information will then be used to generate the BER, which represents the energy performance of the dwelling. This gives a realistic simulation of annual energy use for space heating, water heating, ventilation, lighting and associated pumps and fans, etc. All BER assessors are required to follow a standardised procedure using an approved survey and calculation methodology in order to generate the rating. A BER of an existing dwelling being offered for sale or letting on or after 1st January 2009 must be carried out by a registered BER assessor, at the expense of the owner - who must provide the resulting BER certificate and advisory report to prospective buyers/tenants. All BER Assessments must be published on the SEAI website, and a charge is incurred by the BER Assessor for this publication.

17. How long will the assessment take?

Depending on the size of the property, the inspection can take between one-to-three hours to complete. Again, depending on building complexity, a similar time-period may also be required in order to correctly input the assembled information into the calculation tool (computer software). A BER Certificate and Advisory Report can be issued as soon as the software has correctly completed the assessment.

18. How long will a BER remain valid?

A BER for a building will be valid for 10 years from the date of issue, unless there is a material change in the building in the meantime, which could affect its energy performance. For example, an extension to the building / a significant change to the building fabric / or a change in the heating system or heating fuel being used. Therefore if a property which has received a BER is placed on the market within 10 years of that BER being issued, and the property has experienced no relevant alteration in the meantime, then that same BER may be used by the building owner for the purposes of meeting their obligations under the Regulations.

19. BER assessments are required to be carried out in a fully independent manner. Can BER Assessors rate buildings belonging to themselves, immediate family members, friends, or employers?

The legal requirement to act in an independent manner is an obligation of the BER assessor. BER assessors should not carry out any BER assessments if they believe that they are unable to do so in an independent manner. In reaching this decision a BER assessor should consider all relevant factors including, inter alia, his or her relationship to the owner of the dwelling; his or her relationship to the various professionals who have an interest in the development or marketing of the dwelling; whether any such relationship might compromise or be interpreted by a third party as compromising his or her ability to act in an independent manner. SEI has two requirements in regard to the independence of BER Assessors. First, BER Assessors are obligated to declare to SEI any relationship, notably employment or family relationships, with the owner(s) and/or parties having an involvement in the development or marketing of dwellings that they may be rating. It is a matter for the BER assessor to adhere to this guideline and to decide what relationships should be notified to SEI. Clearly, a BER assessor should declare a relationship if he/she plans to do BER Assessments for his or her employer or a very close personal friend. Second, BER Assessors are required by legislation to act in an independent manner and are precluded, therefore, from carrying out any BER Assessment on a dwelling owned by them or by an immediate family member and in any other circumstances in which they have a material financial interest in the outcome of the assessment(s) other than the fee charged for providing the rating. In this context, immediate family members are parents, siblings, spouse and children.

20. In what way was the requirement to provide BER certificates introduced?

The requirement to provide a BER certificate for a building is being introduced in the following stages: " From the 1st of January 2007, a Building Energy Rating (BER) certificate was required by law for all new dwellings, when they were offered for sale or rent. Planning permission must have been applied for on, or after, this date. " From the 1st of July 2008, a Building Energy Rating (BER) certificate was required by law for all new non-residential buildings, when they were offered for sale or rent. Planning permission must have been applied for on, or after, this date. " From the 1st of January 2009, a Building Energy Rating (BER) certificate IS NOW REQUIRED by law for all new and existing buildings, when they are offered for sale or rent.

21. What impact will BERs have on owners selling or renting a building?

BERs have been legally required for all new and existing buildings since the 1st of January 2009. It is expected that these requirements will fundamentally increase awareness of energy performance as a factor in the property market. Those with better rated buildings (i.e. more energy efficient) will be motivated to highlight this as a positive selling point, while those with poorer rated buildings may be motivated to upgrade their homes, as set out in the accompanying BER advisory report. It is expected that investments in the energy performance of buildings will benefit both owners and users in terms of improved comfort, lower energy running costs and possibly higher property values. Over time the energy performance of buildings is expected to become a significant positive contributory factor in market behaviour.

22. Who are the SEAI?

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), formally Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI), formerly the Irish Energy Centre, was set up by the government in 2002 as Ireland's national energy agency to promote and assist the development of sustainable energy. The SEAI has responsibility under the European Communities (Energy Performance of Buildings) Regulations (SI No 666 of 2006) for the registration of BER Assessors.

23. What is SEAI's role as "Issuing Authority"?

The SEAI has responsibility under the European Communities (Energy Performance of Buildings) Regulations (SI No 666 of 2006) for the registration of BER Assessors, for the maintenance of a register for BER Assessors, for maintaining a methodology of BER assessment, for registration and maintenance of a register of BER Assessments, for certain quality assurance functions in respect of the scheme including determination of training requirements and operational standards, and for the collection of registration and assessment fees from BER Assessors.

24. How much does a BER Assessment cost?

Please see attached our standard fee schedules. For non-standard buildings we will need to conduct an initial survey in order to formulate an accurate quotation. Please note that all our fees will include for the SEAI publication charges, and for VAT also.

NOTE Every care has been taken in the preparation of the information outlined herein, however, please note that it is possible that additional guidelines are published by the SEAI which may supersede certain aspects of the above. Please note that this general information is not intended to be used as legal advice for property owners or agents. If any doubts persist in relation to these issues, please contact Niall Phelan Architects and we will be happy to assist in any way we can.