Energy performance certificate when selling and letting: the process from listing to handover

You want to sell a house or an owner-occupied flat, or let it to a new tenant — then you need an energy performance certificate (Energieausweis), and you need it earlier than most people assume. This article is written for private sellers and landlords of residential property and answers the question that really counts in this situation: what has to be done in which order so that a formality does not turn into a notice of a fine?

We go through the chain of duties in the order in which you encounter it: have the certificate issued, put the details in the listing, present it at the viewing, hand it over after the contract is concluded. After that come the question of costs, the consequences of a missing certificate and the special cases from inheritance to the holiday flat — and at every stage we note what changes on 1 January 2027.

#When must the energy performance certificate be available — at the listing, at the viewing or at the notary appointment?

The duty begins with the intention, not with the contract. If a developed plot, a flat in co-ownership (Wohnungseigentum) or part-ownership is to be sold, or if a building, a flat or another independent unit of use is to be let, leased or leased under a leasing arrangement, an energy performance certificate must be issued — unless a valid one already exists for the building. That is set out in § 80 (3) sentence 1 of the Building Modernisation Act (Gebäudemodernisierungsgesetz).2 No appointment, no notary, no signature: the trigger is your decision to offer the property.

Whether a certificate duty exists for your building at all is a separate question — which occasions trigger it and which buildings are exempt is answered in the article When an energy performance certificate is mandatory. Here we assume that the duty exists and describe the process: the four stages at which something is required of you.

A note on the name of the Act, which you will come across when looking things up: since 29 July 2026 the Building Energy Act (Gebäudeenergiegesetz) has been called the Building Modernisation Act, abbreviated GModG — the renaming is in Article 1 no. 1 of the amending Act.6 The title was renamed; the section numbers on the energy performance certificate have stayed the same. Where you still read “GEG” — for example in the federal government’s official questions and answers — the same Act is meant.

#The certificate must be there for the viewing, not only for the contract

The second stage is the viewing, and it is the actual deadline. When selling, the seller or the estate agent must present an energy performance certificate or a copy of it to the prospective buyer at the viewing at the latest; a clearly visible display or clearly visible laying out during the viewing is also sufficient. If no viewing takes place at all, the certificate must be presented without delay. For letting, leasing and leasing arrangements § 80 (5) declares the same rules to apply accordingly.

Two misunderstandings attach to this subsection. The first: “present” does not mean “produce on request”. Sentence 1 requires presentation at the viewing at the latest, without anyone having to ask for it; the prospective buyer’s request in sentence 4 only marks the latest deadline for the case in which there is no viewing. The second: a detail in the listing is not a presentation. In practice this means the certificate lies on the kitchen table at the viewing or hangs in the hallway — and you mention it.

#It is handed over after the contract, unasked

The third stage follows the conclusion of the contract. Immediately afterwards, the energy performance certificate or a copy must be handed over to the buyer; for letting, leasing and leasing arrangements the same applies to tenants, lessees and leasing customers. The federal GEG information portal expressly clarifies that this handover is owed regardless of whether the contracting party asks for it.7 Anyone who merely showed the certificate around at the viewing is therefore not yet done.

And one more figure belongs at the beginning: an energy performance certificate is issued for a period of validity of ten years. Anyone who has one prepared in 2026 can use it to advertise, present and hand over until 2036 — even if the rules have changed in the meantime. It only loses its validity early if the building is altered in such a way that new proof becomes necessary.

#Which documents to gather before ordering

Between “I want to sell” and “the certificate is available” there is in practice no appointment, but a search for paperwork. Anyone who does it beforehand shortens the issuing to a few days; anyone who does it afterwards postpones the first viewing.

For an energy performance certificate based on recorded consumption you need the heating cost statements or fuel bills for a continuous period, the living space (Wohnfläche), the year the building was constructed, the year the heating was installed and the main energy source. Added to that are two details that are regularly forgotten and noticeably shift the figure: vacancy periods in the billing period and whether hot water is produced via the heating or locally. For a certificate based on the energy balance calculation, details of the building envelope are added — insulation, windows, roof, basement — together with the years in which work was done on them.

For an owner-occupied flat almost none of this is in your hands: you request it from the property manager. Allow lead time for this, and ask at the same time whether a valid certificate already exists for the building anyway.

#Which five details must go into the property advertisement?

If a property advertisement is placed in commercial media and an energy performance certificate exists at that time, the advertisement must contain five details: the type of certificate, the value of the final energy demand or final energy consumption, the main energy sources for heating and — for a residential building — the year of construction and the energy efficiency class.4 Responsible is whoever is responsible for the publication: seller, landlord, lessor, leasing provider or estate agent. The duty therefore also applies to the private seller who puts their house on a portal themselves, and not only to the estate agency.

For a non-residential building the energy performance indicator must be stated separately for heat and for electricity under § 87 (2). For older certificates a special rule applies that appears in no standard template: if the certificate was issued between October 2007 and May 2014, § 87 (3) refers to the transitional provisions under which the values must be converted before the advertisement4 — for example with a flat-rate surcharge if the hot water is produced locally. Anyone who still has such a certificate in the cupboard gives it to the estate agent in full and not as a retyped line.

The most common misconception in this section is: “Without a certificate I am not allowed to advertise.” That is not true. The duty to provide details presupposes that an energy performance certificate already exists at the time the advertisement is placed; the federal GEG information portal answers the question whether a certificate must first be issued for a property advertisement with a clear no. The converse, however, is dangerous: the duty to have one issued already exists, and the certificate must be there by the first viewing at the latest. Anyone who places the advertisement without a certificate therefore gains a few days — no more.

On 1 January 2027 the provision on the mandatory details is replaced in full: the date of issue is added as a detail, instead of the final energy the annual primary energy demand per year and square metre of usable floor area must be stated, and year of construction and energy efficiency class are no longer restricted to residential buildings.6 The same Act, however, also brings the transitional rule that is more important for you than the new rule itself: under the newly worded § 112 (3) GModG, the question of which list applies depends on the date of issue of the certificate and not on the date of the advertisement. Anyone who has a certificate prepared now will therefore still advertise according to today’s template in 2028 and 2030 — nothing to convert, nothing to have reissued. The two versions side by side are set out in the article When an energy performance certificate is mandatory.

#What applies when selling: presentation, handover and the role of the notary

When selling, the same three points in time set out above apply: present at the viewing at the latest, without a viewing without delay or on request, hand over immediately after the contract is concluded. The notary appointment does not appear in this list — and that is the point at which most sellers miss a deadline without noticing.

For the widespread notion that the certificate is “for the notary” misses the Act. Neither the provisions on the use of the certificate nor those on the mandatory details nor the provision on fines mention the notary anywhere; they are addressed to sellers, landlords, lessors, leasing providers and estate agents. Nor does the Act make the energy performance certificate a condition for the validity of the purchase contract: for the case that it is missing it does not provide for nullity, but for a regulatory offence.

In practice this means: the certificate belongs to the documents you have together before the first viewing, not to the papers you take to the notarisation appointment. Anyone who only puts it on the table at the notary’s has already breached the duty to present at the viewing, and that does not yet fulfil the duty to hand over after the contract is concluded — it is a second, independent act. Which other papers belong to the sale and where you get them is set out in Documents for selling a house: which ones you need, where they come from, what they cost.

#When the values in the certificate are wrong

That does not yet describe the second half of the risk. The regulatory offence concerns the question whether a certificate existed. Between buyer and seller something else is at stake later: what it said.

How that turns out depends on the purchase contract — and more clearly than most expect. In 2015 the Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht) of Schleswig ruled that merely handing over an energy performance certificate does not constitute an agreement on quality (Beschaffenheitsvereinbarung): the buyer of a house built in 1934 had received a certificate with incorrect details from the estate agent before the contract was concluded and wanted to reduce the purchase price. The notarised contract contained a comprehensive exclusion of warranty; the court rejected the claims. The certificate, it said, serves to provide information and only has legal effect if the parties expressly make it part of the contract.12

For you as the seller this does not mean the all-clear, but an order of steps. The certificate does not automatically protect you, and it does not automatically bind you — what counts is what is in the contract. Anyone who takes values from the certificate into the advertisement or the exposé should therefore be sure that they are correct, instead of relying on an exclusion of warranty to catch everything. And anyone who fraudulently gives false details leaves the scope of any exclusion.

#You are liable yourself for the details in the certificate

The data are the other point that is underestimated when selling. If the owner of the building provides the data, they must ensure that they are correct — that is set out in § 83 (3) sentence 1.3 Living space, year of construction, type of heating, consumption values, vacancy periods: what you enter in the form comes back to you. A breach of this is a separate regulatory offence within the same range of fines as the failure to present.

The issuer is not released from this: they must check your details carefully and may not use them if there are doubts about their accuracy (§ 83 (3) sentence 2). From 1 January 2027 an additional duty is added — the issuer must then inspect an existing building on site or have suitable photographs provided for assessing its energy characteristics — as set out in the newly worded § 83 (1) sentence 3.6

#What applies when letting — and what when a tenancy agreement is extended?

For letting, presentation and handover follow the same rules as for selling; the Act expressly declares them to apply accordingly. Today the duty is triggered solely by letting, leasing or a leasing arrangement — that is, by a new contract with a new tenant.

For existing tenancies this results in something that surprises many tenants: anyone who already lives in the flat has no right to see the energy performance certificate. The consumer advice centre (Verbraucherzentrale) puts this unequivocally.10 The duty is linked to the conclusion of a contract, not to the existence of a tenancy.

This extension is set out in Article 2 no. 32 of the amending Act of 23 July 2026 and enters into force together with the other energy performance certificate rules on 1 January 2027.6 For landlords with several properties it is therefore worth looking through their own records: a certificate that expires in 2028 or 2029 can become due from 2027 even if nobody moves out or in. Anyone who draws up a list of their dates of issue today spreads the orders over two years instead of two weeks.

#Paper or digital — in which form you hand it over

A question that is regularly answered wrongly in guides: the certificate has to be handed over on paper. The Act does not say so. § 80 (4) requires “an energy performance certificate or a copy thereof” — the form is not prescribed there, and a file sent by e-mail is a copy.

From 1 January 2027 the question is even turned around: the energy performance certificate must then be issued digitally in a machine-readable format, and paper is available at the owner’s request. For everyday purposes this already means today: the file belongs in the collection of documents you provide to prospective buyers or tenants anyway — and a printout still belongs in the flat, because it fulfils the duty to present at the viewing without any technology.

#Which certificate type you may choose

In principle you have the choice between a consumption certificate (Verbrauchsausweis) and a demand certificate (Bedarfsausweis). Until 31 December 2026 there is an important exception: for residential buildings with fewer than five flats whose building application was filed before 1 November 1977 and which reach the requirement level of the Thermal Insulation Ordinance (Wärmeschutzverordnung) of 1977 neither on completion nor through later alterations, a demand certificate must be issued under § 80 (3) sentences 2 and 3 GModG.2 All three conditions must be met together — an old building that has since been insulated falls outside the rule.

From 1 January 2027 this cut-off-date rule ceases to apply: the consumption certificate is then open to every building used exclusively for residential purposes, while non-residential buildings only receive the calculated certificate. Which of the two types is the better one in your case and how they differ in content is set out in detail in the comparison consumption or demand certificate; if the choice is already clear, the direct route leads to the order form for the consumption certificate.

#Who pays for the energy performance certificate, and may the landlord pass it on?

The owner bears the costs. That follows directly from the group of addressees: the seller or the landlord is obliged to have the certificate issued, to present it and to hand it over. When selling, the allocation of costs can be regulated in the purchase contract; the statutory duty itself is unaffected — it still falls on you.

You may not pass the energy performance certificate on to the tenant, and the reason for that is not in the Building Modernisation Act but in the Operating Costs Ordinance (Betriebskostenverordnung). Under § 1 (1) BetrKV, operating costs are only costs that arise on an ongoing basis for the owner through ownership or the intended use of the building.8 The energy performance certificate arises from a one-off occasion and recurs after ten years at the earliest — it therefore falls outside the definition before one even opens the catalogue of recoverable items. The Verbraucherzentrale says the same in one sentence: landlords may not pass the costs of the energy performance certificate on to their tenants.10

For an owner-occupied flat the case is different, because under § 79 (2) GModG the certificate is issued for the building and not for the individual flat. Obtaining it is therefore a matter for the community of flat owners (Gemeinschaft der Wohnungseigentümer); in practice it also bears the costs and settles them via the communal costs. This allocation is not bindingly prescribed in the Building Modernisation Act — it is governed by the law on flat ownership and the declaration of division. Anyone who wants to sell or let therefore first asks the property manager whether a valid certificate already exists for the building: in many cases this saves the order entirely, and if not, the community must pass a resolution — which can take until the next owners’ meeting.

For tax purposes, the general principle from § 9 (1) sentence 1 of the Income Tax Act (Einkommensteuergesetz) applies to landlords: income-related expenses (Werbungskosten) are expenses for acquiring, securing and maintaining income.9 The costs of an energy performance certificate for a let flat fall under this in principle. There is no official statement that expressly mentions the energy performance certificate; keep the invoice and clarify the individual case with your tax adviser.

What an energy performance certificate costs depends above all on the certificate type and the preparation route; online preparation starts at 69.90 €. The full breakdown with the ranges for preparation with a site visit is set out in What an energy performance certificate costs.

#Fine, formal warning, damages: what a missing certificate costs

Four of the regulatory offences in § 108 GModG can be committed by you yourself as a private seller or landlord. They all lie within the same range: the fine is up to 10,000 euros.5 Intent is not required — reckless conduct is sufficient, and anyone who places an advertisement without the mandatory details although the certificate is lying in the drawer is, as a rule, acting recklessly.

This settles a figure that circulates stubbornly online: 15,000 euros is often mentioned, and this amount appears nowhere in the law in force. The range for energy performance certificate offences is 10,000 euros. § 108 (2) knows three ranges in total, and the energy performance certificate lies in the middle one: up to 50,000 euros in the cases of subsection (1) nos. 1 to 3 and 12 to 14 — that is, for a new building not constructed correctly, an uninsulated top-floor ceiling, alterations to external building elements, and the equipment of heating systems and the insulation of pipes; up to 10,000 euros in the cases of nos. 15 to 22, which include all energy performance certificate offences; up to 5,000 euros in all other cases.5 The 50,000-euro range therefore concerns structural and building-services requirements, never the energy performance certificate. The inspection of air-conditioning systems does not belong there either: it is in subsection (1) no. 15 and therefore in the 10,000-euro range.

On 1 January 2027 the numbers of these offences shift by one, because a new number is inserted. Nothing changes in the amount of the fine — only the reference you cite will read differently afterwards.

#The fine is not the only risk

Alongside the regulatory offence stands competition law. The Higher Regional Court of Hamm ruled that missing mandatory details in a property advertisement constitute a breach of the Act against Unfair Competition (Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb), because these details are material to a consumer’s business decision.11 The decision was handed down in 2016 on the identically worded predecessor provision of the Energy Saving Ordinance (Energieeinsparverordnung); the mandatory details are now in § 87 (1) GModG. In practice this opens the route of a formal warning (Abmahnung) to competitors and associations — with a cease-and-desist declaration and reimbursement of costs, and without any authority having to act.

That is why the calculation “nobody checks anyway” rarely works out. Official checks are rare; authorities mostly become aware of cases through tip-offs. The formal-warning route, by contrast, does not require an authority, and property advertisements are publicly visible.

Under civil law the contract remains in place — a missing certificate does not make the sale or tenancy invalid. The trouble arises along the route described above: if a buyer discovers after moving in that the details are not correct, the question is no longer whether a certificate existed, but what it said, who supplied the data and what the contract says about it.

#Special cases: inheritance, owner-occupied flat, listed building, holiday flat

Four constellations regularly lead to the wrong order of steps when selling and letting — either ordering too early or too late. The complete list of buildings and situations without a certificate duty — small buildings, temporary structures, demolition, compulsory auction — is set out with its references in Energy performance certificate exemptions: which buildings are exempt; here the point is what you have to do in each case.

Inheritance and gift. The transfer of ownership through inheritance or gift does not in itself trigger anything. Anyone who inherits a house and keeps it does not need a certificate; anyone who sells or lets it needs one from the moment they intend to do so. In this situation, allow for more lead time than usual: estates rarely contain a valid certificate, and the documents from which the building could be described are often just as unavailable. If necessary, heirs can obtain the heating cost statements of recent years from the utility or the billing company, and the year of construction and living space from the building file at the building authority.

Owner-occupied flat. An energy performance certificate is issued for a building, not for an individual flat; the federal GEG information portal expressly answers the question about certificates for individual flats with no and allows a split only for mixed-use buildings — and even there by residential and non-residential areas, not by flats.7 For you this means: you do not order it yourself, you request it. You still have to present it and hand it over yourself — the property manager is not your representative in this duty, only the place where the document is kept.

Holiday house and holiday flat. The Building Modernisation Act does not apply to residential buildings intended for an annual period of use of less than four months. If this exemption does not apply, the official questions and answers say it depends on which contract is concluded: with a pure tenancy agreement the duty to present remains, with an accommodation contract including cleaning, bed linen and catering it does not. The line therefore runs not between “holiday” and “living”, but between tenancy and accommodation — and it depends on what you actually offer, not on the heading of your contract form.

#What changes for listed buildings on 1 January 2027

Until 31 December 2026 the provisions on issuing, presenting and handing over the energy performance certificate do not apply to a listed building.1 Anyone who sells or lets a listed house this year does not need a certificate and consequently does not have to include mandatory details in the advertisement either.

That ends on 1 January 2027. The amending Act of 23 July 2026 replaces the exemption provision in full; in the new version only certain buildings of the Federal Government and of allied defence as well as small buildings are exempt. Listed buildings are no longer included.

For owners of a listed building this means a planning task, not panic: anyone who wants to sell or let in 2027 or later should plan the issuing in good time. Which certificate type is permitted follows the same rules as for any other residential building — with the difference that for a listed building the available documentation is often thin, and the route via recorded consumption therefore often remains the more practical one.

#Frequently asked questions on selling and letting

Six questions that come up again and again in everyday selling and letting — each answer stands on its own and can be read without the text above it.

#Conclusion: the order of steps decides, not the notary appointment

When selling and letting, the energy performance certificate is not a formality at the end but a chain of four stages: have it issued as soon as you want to offer the property, include the mandatory details in the listing, present it unasked at the viewing, hand it over after the contract is concluded. Three of these stages are independently subject to fines, and the range is 10,000 euros each time.

Anyone who has a certificate prepared in 2026 is on the safe side for ten years and will continue to advertise according to today’s details after the turn of the year. Three things still belong in the calendar: the extension of tenancy agreements, which itself becomes a trigger from 2027, the new mandatory details for certificates from 2027 — and the listed building, which loses its exemption.