Energy Performance Certificates in Hungary
By Dr. Zita Orbán, Kovács Réti Szegheő Attorneys at LawAs from 1 January 2012 providing buyers/tenants with energy performance certificates became statutory also in respect of Hungarian private buildings pursuant to an amendment of the governmental decree regulating the certification of the energy performance of buildings.
Hungary started the harmonization of its legal rules concerning energy performance of buildings already in 2006 and continued with a governmental decree in 2008, however, the enforcement decrees were still pending and the controlling procedures stayed unregulated – although the acquiring of the final and binding utility permit of newly built buildings became conditional to the existence of energy performance certificates provided by the constructor as from 1 January 2009.
The present introduction of the necessity of energy performance certificates for private buildings raises certain practical questions in respect of private acquisitions concerning which the proceeding legal representative assists to the parties by providing them with exact and entire information and proposing suitable solutions by considering the specific circumstances of the case.
Sellers shall provide the energy performance certificates based on their warranty obligations. In the lack of such energy performance certificate the acquirer of the real estate must be aware of the potential risks and consequences deriving from the unavailability of the energy performance certificate. However, the lack of such energy performance certificate may not, itself, hinder the transaction, further the certificate is not requested to be submitted to the land registry office according to the currently prevailing opinion of land registry offices. Meanwhile it must be emphasized that the central governmental position is not yet available in this regard.
Several certification entities offer their services connected to energy performance certificates, therefore wide range of service providers are available for potential sellers and lessors.
Kovács Réti Szegheő Attorneys at Law was established in 1992. It has been one of the first law offices in Hungary, which specialises particularly in the legal representation of business organisations and the application of the so-called business law and has been growing and expanding steadily ever since to become one of the largest Hungarian-owned law offices by now. One of the fields of the Law Firm's activity is real estate law, in the frame of which the Law Firm not only provides legal assistance in traditional real estate sale and purchase transactions, but also undertakes to handle complex legal tasks concerning real estates including legal tasks related to commercial real estates, industrial parks and Greenfield investments, further provides practical advice to clients on financial techniques and structures that apply to real estate transactions.Dr. Zita Orbán, member of the Real Estate Practice Group joined the Law Firm in 2000. Besides real estate law matters, she is engaged with corporate and commercial, employment, customs and M&A matters.
Dr. Zita Orbán, Attorney at Law
Kovács Réti Szegheő Attorneys at Law, 1026 Budapest, Bimbó út 143., T: +36 1 275 2785 F: +36 1 275 2784
W: http://www.krs.hu