The President of the International Union of Property Owners (UIPI), Mr. Stratos Paradias pointed out that the most important regulation of the final draft of the Directive is that the prohibition of legal actions such as the lease or sale of buildings and apartments that will not have been energy upgraded, which was foreseen in the draft until yesterday, was finally withdrawn thanks to the strong reactions of the International Union of Property Owners (UIPI) in Brussels, and its member organizations in all European countries , and especially in the countries of the South. It is an unprecedented victory and success of the owner organizations, that the final draft of the Directive no longer contains these regulations, which would lead not to the “carbonization” of the buildings, but literally to the “carbonization” of their value…
According to the released plan, its main provisions are as follows:
By 2030 all new buildings (until 2027 if their useful surface exceeds 2,000 m2) and public buildings until 2027 must be zero-emission.
All buildings classified in the two lowest energy levels, owned or rented, now have an obligation to upgrade energy, as these will be radically reformed with the new specifications for energy rating and classification of buildings with P.E .A. The draft Directive distinguishes three categories of buildings:
a.) buildings and building units owned by public entities,
b.) non-residential buildings and building units, except those belonging to public bodies and finally
c.) residential buildings and building units.
The plan specifies that:
Residential buildings and building units as well as those owned by public bodies, must achieve:
- i) after 1 January 2027, at least energy efficiency class F; and
(ii) after 1 January 2030, at least energy efficiency class E;
Residential buildings and building units must achieve no later than:
(i) after 1 January 2030, at least category energy efficiency F;
- ii) after 1 January 2033, at least energy efficiency category E;
Consequently, shops, offices and other non-residential buildings that are classified in the lowest level (G) and should be upgraded until 31.12.2026 at least to level (E) while residences until 31.12. 2029. All these are calculated on average at 15% of the building stock.
Then the shops and office buildings etc. that are classified in the next level (F) should be upgraded and these until 31.12.2029. and residential buildings until 31.12.2032, at level (E). All this is also calculated in 15% of the building stock.
In total, that is 30% of the building potential classified in the two lowest energy levels (over one million buildings for Greece, which has 3,650,000 buildings) should have been upgraded to level (E) by 31.12.2032, which is absolutely impossible, given that the transfer of these regulations to national legislation will require many years. This process will continue gradually in the coming years, with each subsequent energy class representing 15% of the total building potential, with the initiative and responsibility of the Member States, so that by 2050 all buildings will be zero-emission and fully ” decarbonized”.
The consequences for any buildings that are not upgraded according to the above objectives, will be determined by the national legislations of the Member States, we hope (and this is what we requested) according to the prevailing economic and social conditions of each country.
The problem in this whole plan is not whether the property owners disagree with the above regulations, given that everyone is interested in improving their buildings and tackling climate change, but how many of them can actually afford it, in the absence of substantial government aid and the doubling of renovation costs in the last year, and with 24% VAT to carry out the upgrades that are so optimistically, but also so unrealistically included in the draft of this Directive.
