Almost half of homes not energy efficient 21/01/2008 00:00

Energy labels are now required for those selling or renting out a home.

21 January 2008

UTRECHT – Of the 64,109 homes that have now been provided with an energy label, almost half fall into the ‘worst categories' of E, F, or G. This emerged from figures SenterNovum released on Monday.

29,942 homes have been given an E, F, or G label. Another 14,500 homes have been given a D label. "Anything below D cannot by any stretch be considered energy efficient."

Almost 12,000 energy labels have been granted this year alone, according to figures from SenterNovem. As of 1 January of this year the energy label is mandatory for people planning to sell or rent their home.

The total number of homes now provided with an energy label includes just over 13,000 homes for sale and almost 51,000 rental homes. The rental homes are largely in the possession of housing corporations, who were among the first to obtain energy labels for their homes. Homeowners are now catching up.

What is remarkable is that homes built between 1960 and 1975 are by far the majority in the worst energy categories, F and G. The A label, granted to only the most energy efficient homes, are mainly granted to homes built between 1996 and 2005. In total only 1,316 A labels have been issued.

The Homeowners Association (VEH) has said it has not received any complaints about the labels since the requirement was introduced this year. In advance the association did say it was concerned about problems with the certification since the VEH had little confidence in the advisers entrusted to issue the labels. The association was also unhappy about the lack of a complaints procedure and possibility for consumers to check on advisers' qualifications.

"We are getting a lot of questions," says Hans André de la Porte of the VEH. The most frequently asked question is what will happen if they do not get a label. Little at the moment, because no sanctions have been provided for.

André de la Porte is not surprised that houses built between 1960 and 1975 are receiving such bad ratings. "At that time the main concern was to build a lot of homes and quickly. There was no attention to insulation."

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2008]

Subject: Dutch news