Legal requirements

The BER certificate provides potential buyers and tenants with an indicator of the energy efficiency of a property to assist in decision-making when seeking to rent or buy a property. The BER advisory report provides recommendations on how to improve the BER of the property.

The BER Regulations (SI 243/2012) require:

• all buildings that are constructed, sold, or rented to have a valid BER certificate and advisory report. This applies to both residential and commercial properties.
• all sales and rental property advertisements to include the BER.

There are some exemptions to these requirements.

Exemptions

The following buildings do not require a BER:

• national monuments
• protected structures or proposed protected structures
• places of worship or buildings used for the religious activities of any religion
• certain temporary buildings
• industrial buildings not intended for extended human occupancy with a low installed heating capacity (≤10 W/m2)
• non-residential agricultural buildings with a low installed heating capacity (≤10 W/m2)
• stand-alone buildings with a small useful floor area (<50m2)

The responsibility for obtaining a BER certificate lies with the landlord or property owner.

Prospective tenants and buyers can request a copy of the BER certificate and Advisory Report and can input the BER number here to check it against the BER on the National BER Register.

Enforcement of these requirements is the responsibility of each local Building Control Authority. If the BER is not available or not included in the advertisement in accordance with the SEAI BER Advertising Guidelines, you should notify the local building control authority for the area where the property is located.