An essential element in the sale or rental of real estate, the energy performance diagnosis (EPD) has recently been questioned about its reliability. Putting some owners at risk of ending up with housing that was deemed indecent. Explanation.
It is a real sword of Damocles over the heads of its owners. By classifying homes from A to G, Energy Performance Diagnosis (DPE) makes it rain and shine on the real estate market.
Mandatory since 2007, but at the time considered a simple formality with no real impact, today it indeed determines every transaction and rental of a property.
A kind of lottery
“The potential buyer or tenant has objective information about the quality of the accommodation offered to him, which prevents unpleasant surprises,” explains Yannick Ainouche, president of the chamber of real estate diagnostics Fnaim.
However, its reliability has often been questioned, giving some owners the impression of participating in some kind of lottery.
Recently, it was the association of 60 million consumers who pinned this famous DPE. By making about twenty diagnoses, some of them for the same interest, the association has achieved more than surprising results.
A new calculation method
“For the same house, the five diagnosticians do not lead to the same result,” the association 60 Millions explains to the consommates. There are always at least two different letters, and sometimes three for the energy labels that go from A to G”.
How is such a difference possible? For Yannick Ainouche, two factors can explain this gap. “The new DPE calculation method is much more advanced since the revision in July 2021. The diagnosis now covers a larger part of the technical specificities of housing. In order for the DPE to be reliable and objective, the owner must provide us with several essential information: insulation type, thickness, etc.
However, according to the expert, some are absent from the diagnosis or simply cannot answer certain questions that are a little too technical. “For example, as part of the new DPE, we have to enter the size of the insulation. If we don’t have this information, we put a standard index, which degrades the rating of the property,” explains the expert.
Low cost diagnostics
Another hypothesis from our interlocutor: the use of cheap, unskilled diagnosticians, who sell prices and damage the image of the sector. “Although not in most cases, some diagnosticians do their job poorly and deliver unreliable DPEs,” acknowledges the Fnaim expert. A problem known to the government.
A report by the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumers and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF), published in September, points to certain questionable practices on the part of real estate diagnostics. In question ? Unclear pricing and display that all too often doesn’t exist.
Thus, the Fnaim’s real estate diagnostic chamber calls for the creation of a real professional branch and, why not, to think about an authority that could punish unscrupulous diagnosticians. As a reminder, since July 1, 2021, the DPE is legally enforceable.
The condominium riddle
But a new controversy arises. If renovation works make it easier for individual houses to see their ranking improve, this is not the case for apartments.
Depending on the condition of the building they are in and the way of heating, usually collective, the apartments struggle to change class, even if they are renovated from top to bottom.
Faced with this imbroglio, nearly a quarter of landlords would be reluctant to start work and would try to get rid of these properties that have become “unsaleable” and unsaleable.
Especially since a new measure still runs the risk of cringing people: from 1er An energy audit will be required in April for the sale of class F and G flats, which should cost between 600 and 1,000 euros at the owner’s expense.