The energy performance certificate: when it is mandatory

Real Decreto 390/2021 requires the energy certificate at the main stages of a property's life: when selling or renting a building or part of it (for example, a home or commercial premises) to a new tenant, for new builds, and during major renovations or extensions (when more than 25% of the envelope is renewed or thermal installations are replaced).

It is also mandatory for public administration buildings exceeding 250 square metres and for non-residential buildings (commercial, administrative, healthcare, educational, etc.) over 500 square metres. In these 2 cases, the label must also be displayed in a place visible to the public.

Some specific cases are excluded: protected monuments and buildings when the certificate would alter their character, temporary structures with an intended use of less than 2 years, industrial or agricultural buildings with low energy demand, isolated buildings of less than 50 usable square metres and properties bought for demolition or major renovation, subject to a responsible declaration to the competent body.

If you have doubts about whether your specific transaction requires the certificate, Managora reviews your situation and confirms the obligation before you contract our services.

The certificate can only be signed by a competent technician: a professional with qualifying academic and professional qualifications, specifically an architect, engineer or building technician, among the building agents recognised by Ley 38/1999 de Ordenación de la Edificación. It is not a document that the owner can issue on their own.

The technician is obliged to make at least 1 visit to the property to collect real data (orientation, enclosures, windows, heating, hot water and cooling systems). A certificate issued without a visit is invalid and exposes the owner and the technician to liability.

Real Decreto 659/2025 has approved a new accreditation regime for these technicians (responsible declaration and national registry), entering into force on 23 July 2026. At the date of this guide, it is not yet in force and does not change the obligation for the owner selling or renting. At Managora, we coordinate the competent technician, manage the visit and prepare the certificate for you. You can see the updated amount on the service page.

Issuing the certificate is not enough. Real Decreto 390/2021 requires it to be submitted, along with its energy assessment report, to the competent body of the autonomous community where the property is located. Registration must be done within the period set by each autonomous community and, failing that, within 1 month following the issue date.

The practical consequence is clear: to have legal validity, the certificate must be duly registered. A signed but unregistered certificate is useless for signing the sale deeds or formalising the rental contract, and registration is also the way to obtain the official label.

Each autonomous community has its own registry and processing particularities. Managora submits the certificate to the regional registry corresponding to your property and delivers the registered document to you, ready for the transaction.

The certificate entitles you to an energy performance label, with a letter scale from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient), valid throughout the certificate's lifespan. It is the same label logic you already know from household appliances, applied to the property.

The regulation obliges you to include the energy rating in all sale or rental advertising: adverts on real estate portals, agency windows, signs, press or websites. Advertising a property without indicating its rating, or advertising a letter that is not backed by a registered certificate, is an infringement.

When Managora manages your certificate, we deliver the label and the rating ready so your advert complies from day 1.

Generally, the energy performance certificate is valid for 10 years from its registration. The exception is the G rating, the worst on the scale, whose certificate expires after 5 years, precisely to encourage the improvement of the least efficient properties.

It is the owner's responsibility to renew the certificate when it expires if they are going to sell or rent again, or when they carry out renovations that improve the property's efficiency and want to reflect the new rating. An expired certificate is equivalent, for the purposes of the transaction, to not having one.

Managora notifies you of the expiry and processes the renewal with a new technical visit and a new registration, so you do not miss the deadline.

The penalty regime is set out in the 12th and 13th additional provisions of the consolidated text of the Ley de Suelo y Rehabilitación Urbana (Real Decreto Legislativo 7/2015), to which Real Decreto 390/2021 refers. Infringements are classified as minor, serious and very serious.

The fine brackets set by this regulation range, as a guideline, from €300 to €600 for minor infringements, from €601 to €1,000 for serious ones and from €1,001 to €6,000 for very serious ones. Selling or renting without a certificate, not registering it, advertising a false rating or issuing the certificate without the mandatory visit are punishable behaviours.

Besides the fine, operating without a valid certificate can block the signing before a notario (notary) and generate claims from the buyer or tenant. The safe way to avoid this is to have the certificate issued and registered before putting the property on the market, and Managora takes care of that for you.