The CasaClima class: what it tells a buyer
In South Tyrol the energy certificate is a provincial document and has to be attached to the contract. For a buyer it is also the most reliable estimate of what living there will cost.
It has to exist, and it has to be attached
In the province of Bolzano the energy certificate has to be attached to the sale contract: without it the contract can be declared void and administrative penalties apply. It is not a document to be produced afterwards, and it is among the first things to ask for once a property genuinely interests you.
The certificate is issued by the CasaClima Agency, the provincial body that runs the system and keeps the archive. It is valid for ten years, and lapses sooner if the building undergoes work that changes its energy behaviour: a certificate from eight years ago, on a house renovated since, does not describe the house you are buying.
What it actually tells you
The class is a summary, and like all summaries it hides what you need. Under the letter sit the figures that matter to whoever will live there: heat demand per square metre, the type of system, the energy carrier. Two flats in the same class, one on district heating and one with a twenty-year-old oil boiler, have different bills.
Look too at the year of the certificate and at what it describes: the whole building or the single unit. A top-floor flat under an uninsulated roof behaves differently from one on the second floor of the same block, and the building certificate alone will not tell you that.
The class and the price
A low class is not a reason not to buy: it is a fact to negotiate with, and it needs translating into two numbers the certificate does not contain — what you will spend each winter, and what the work that moves the class would cost. A surveyor produces those on a site visit, and they are worth having before the offer.
Conversely, a high class does not on its own justify any price. It counts as every other feature counts: against what has been paid for comparable properties in the same area. The certificate is part of the valuation, not the valuation.
In short
- Ask for the certificate as soon as the property interests you
- Check the year: ten years' validity, less if work has been done
- Establish whether it describes the building or the single unit
- Read the demand figure and the system type, not just the letter
- Ask for the last two winters' bills
- Have a surveyor cost the work that would move the class
- Remember the contract is at risk without the certificate attached
The questions we are asked most
The seller says the certificate will come later: is that normal?
It is normal for it not to be ready when a property goes on the market, and it often is not. It is not acceptable for it to be missing at the contract, because in this province it has to be attached. If it is still absent at the preliminary stage, ask for the deadline to obtain it to be written into the contract.
Are CasaClima and the national APE the same thing?
The province of Bolzano has its own competence in this field and its own system, run by the CasaClima Agency. For a property in this province the document that counts is the provincial one: if you have bought elsewhere in Italy, do not assume the procedure you know is the right one here.
Official sources
Note
This guide is general information written by an estate agency. It does not replace advice from a notary, an accountant or the surveyor handling the property. The rules cited are those in force at the date of publication.
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