After long dispute, it has just been announced that paragraph 4 of article 12 of law 4122/2013, has been amended with paragraph 1 of article 71 of Law 4685/2020 (A92-07.05.2020), which makes it a legal requirement from 1st January 2021 for owners of all Halkidiki properties for sale and for rent to hold a valid energy performance certificate (EPC or ΠΕΑ) for their property prior to advertising on any real estate website or commercial publication.

In Greece, these energy performance certificates have actually been around for a few years, but until now it was only when an owner had a buyer that they needed to produce an EPC for their property in order to be able to sell. This update makes it compulsory to have before putting it on the market in line with practices in other European countries.

Likewise, we Halkidiki real estate agents also need to comply by advertising the energy class of all listings, which should give a buyer or potential tenant an indication of the energy efficiency of a property and how much it might cost to run.

Owners of Halkidiki properties for sale and for rent do not need to be too alarmed, more than likely the property already has an EPC, which you would probably find filed away with the contract of ownership and they are valid for 10 years. If an owner wishes for us to advertise their property then we will need a copy of the EPC because we must be able to show the document upon request, so it is an idea to check that it is still in date. In the case that a property has never been assessed, the property is simply graded on a scale with some recommendations for improvements so it is not something that is passed or failed nor will require any costly work. There is no fixed charge for an EPC so it is advisable to contact a few qualified/certified assessors and compare prices but you can expect to pay somewhere around 50-100€ depending on the size of the property and location.