Each Building to Have Energy Passport Regardless of Age – What It Means for Owners or Buyers of Real State

The amendments to the Law on Planning and Construction have introduced a new obligation: all buildings, regardless of age, will have to have an energy passport. An insight into the document should be requested, because the energy passport gives the owners, purchasers and tenants of an apartment or another piece of real estate a clear overview of the consumption of energy and an insight into the necessary investments in the reconstruction of facilities.

An energy passport contains data on the energy grade that the facility belongs to by its energy consumption, and there are eight such grades. The most energy efficient buildings save the most energy for heating and cooling and have the A+ tag, and the lowest grade is G. That document is part of the technical documentation and also conditions the investors.

– No facility that is being built or repaired can get the utilization permit without the energy passport. At the ministry, we have noticed the need to carry out controls in the coming period in order to see whether what the passport says matches the situation on the spot – says Dusan Radonjic, the acting deputy minister of construction, transport and infrastructure in charge of housing and architectural policy, utility activities and energy efficiency.

In addition to residential and office buildings, individual houses should also have energy passports, and vacation houses and temporary facilities up to two years are exempt for the time being. The passport is issued after a detailed analysis of the facility, and the price of the passport is from 100 to several hundred euros depending on the type and the size of the facility. All the passports are available at the Central Register of the Ministry of Construction. Since 2013, over 12,000 energy passports have been issued.

– Through a simple Google search, the citizens can check it, there is an online service, or by the number of the cadaster parcel, or by the address at which the facility is located. Access is fully free for both natural and legal persons – Radonjic says.

Research shows that 85% of the residential buildings does not meet the energy efficiency requirements. That is why the Government of Serbia keeps on subsidizing the energy efficiency measures in both households and public facilities.

The minister of mining and energy of Serbia, Dubravka Djedovic, visited the schools in Kragujevac and Kraljevo where energy repair works were in progress.

– We are talking primarily about better insulation, replacement of joinery. In addition to replacing the doors and the windows, we talked about power sockets. These are old schools with one socket per classroom which is unsustainable today when we have smart devices. The school will pay some 40% lower electricity and heating bills, and carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by some 60% – says minister Dubravka Djedovic.

Energy efficiency has been marked as a public interest and that field is being harmonized in terms of laws with the increasingly strict EU directives.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Government of Serbia

Ministry of Construction Transport and Infrastructure

Ministry of Mining and Energy

Dusan Radonjic

Dubravka Djedovic

Law on Planning and Construction

energy passport

energy grades