Czech PENB when selling in 2026: duties and exceptions

The apartment is ready to advertise, but the owners’ association is silent, the broker proposes class G, and the buyer asks for real energy costs. These are related but different questions. PENB describes the building under standardised conditions; the listing class, document handover and household bills each follow their own rule and should not be improvised at the reservation stage.

Does the law require PENB at the first viewing?

Section 7a does not use “first viewing” as its deadline. It requires the seller to present the certificate or a copy to the prospective buyer before concluding contracts concerning the purchase, and to hand it over no later than signing the purchase contract. A reservation or another earlier document may already create purchase obligations, so do not assume the final purchase contract is the first relevant contract.

Operationally, obtain and check the document before advertising: the class is already required in information and advertising materials, the broker needs the graphical page, and the buyer needs time to read the protocol. But describe that as safe sequencing—not as a fabricated statutory “first viewing” rule.

PENB rates the building, not the previous household

The energy performance certificate assigns classes A to G from calculated energy needs for typical use: heating, cooling, hot water, lighting, ventilation and humidity treatment. MPO stresses that the inputs are theoretical rather than the seller’s utility invoices, so buildings can be compared without differences in thermostat setting, occupancy or habits.

The certificate contains a graphical page and a protocol. Give a buyer both the standardised PENB and recent, properly described running-cost evidence where available. Never market an economical resident as proof of an economical building, or present another entrance’s or neighbouring building’s certificate as this one.

House and apartment owners start differently

• House or whole-building owner: check the existing certificate and commission an authorised energy specialist if it is missing or no longer valid.
• Apartment owner: request the building PENB or copy from the SVJ; if no SVJ exists, request it from the manager.
• Cooperative share: transferring membership and its associated lease is not itself a sale of a building or privately owned unit. Current Section 7a therefore does not create the ordinary sale-PENB duty for that share transfer; the cooperative can still have separate building or rental duties.
• Brokered sale: send the broker the graphical page or copy and retain proof of exactly which version was supplied.
• Buyer file: keep the full certificate, request and response, listing version and final handover evidence together.

Use a demonstrable written request identifying the unit and building, delivery address, purpose and requested electronic or paper format. Under Section 7a, an SVJ or manager must provide a certificate already held within 30 days of the request, or within 60 days if it has not yet obtained one. Do not wait until the buyer’s bank or lawyer discovers the gap.

Do not describe every apartment seller as paying to create a new PENB. The building owner, SVJ or manager is responsible for the building certificate and the apartment owner must request it demonstrably. If a whole-house owner must commission one, the price is not regulated. MPO currently gives indicative ranges of CZK 3,000–8,000 for a family house and tens of thousands for an apartment building, depending on documentation, size, complexity, location and the specialist. Obtain a scope, required inputs, price and delivery date in writing rather than treating those examples as a tariff.

If the SVJ does not provide the certificate

If the apartment owner made a written request and the certificate was not handed over, Section 7a(7) allows the owner to replace it with statements for electricity, gas and heat supplied to that unit for the previous three years. In that case the apartment owner is not required to state a classification in advertising. Keep the written request, delivery proof and the complete period of statements; a verbal conversation with the chair is weak evidence for this route.

What the advert should say

• Use the classification shown on the valid graphical page for the correct building.
• Keep the class consistent across every portal, agency feed, brochure and social post.
• Do not substitute a heating bill, EPC-like marketing badge or an unsupported estimate for the statutory class.
• If a broker must use G because the graphical page was not supplied, do not describe G as an engineering assessment.
• When the certificate changes, update all live copies and preserve the corrected publication record.

Energy class is one part of an accurate sale listing. The owner-run advertising checklist covers area definitions, ownership, charges, defects and portal-version control.

How long is PENB valid?

The statutory maximum is ten years from preparation, but validity ends earlier after a major change to the completed building or a change in heating, cooling or hot-water preparation. Check the issue date, address and scope, then ask what has changed since it was prepared. Only an authorised energy specialist may produce it; MPO publishes the official specialist register.

Exceptions are specific, not a general old-building waiver

The Energy Management Act excludes defined categories, including buildings under 50 m² of total energy-reference area, qualifying seasonal recreational buildings, certain industrial, agricultural, religious and security buildings, cultural monuments and buildings in a heritage reservation. The exact building and use matter; a small apartment inside a larger building is not automatically a “building under 50 m².”

There is also a sale-specific route for a building constructed before 1 January 1947 whose last major completed-building change was also before that date—but only if both parties agree in writing that the certificate will not be obtained. Verify both facts and put the agreement in the transaction documents. “The house looks pre-war” is not a substitute.

PENB is not a cadastral attachment—and consent is not a cure

Section 7a creates advertising, presentation and handover duties. It does not list PENB as an attachment that must accompany every proposal to register ownership in the Land Registry. Record buyer handover in the transaction file, but keep it separate from the exact cadastral attachments and any additional lender or lawyer requirement.

A buyer’s statement that they “do not need PENB” does not generally erase the seller’s statutory duties. The narrow pre-1947 route expressly requires a written agreement and both historical facts. Likewise, a broker publishing class G because no graphical page was supplied does not itself satisfy the owner’s presentation and handover duties.

What can happen if the seller ignores PENB?

For a natural-person building or apartment owner, failure to meet the relevant Section 7a sale duties is an offence under Section 12. The Act allows a fine up to CZK 200,000; that is a statutory ceiling, not an automatic invoice for every mistake. Legal entities and brokers have their own offence provisions. Correct the advert and document trail promptly, but do not invent a certificate, backdate presentation or describe the broker’s fallback G as an expert result.

Build a certificate evidence pack

• Full PENB and graphical page, with issue date, building address and specialist.
• Written SVJ or manager request, delivery proof, response and dates against the 30/60-day rule.
• Three complete years of unit electricity, gas and heat statements if the statutory substitute is used.
• Evidence of major renovation or changes to heating, cooling or hot-water preparation.
• The exact class and certificate version sent to each broker and used in each advert.
• Buyer presentation and handover confirmation attached to the sale document checklist.

Put any specialist fee and document delay into the sale net-proceeds and preparation sheet and sequence it with the complete Czech apartment-sale timeline.

Questions a buyer should ask

• Does this certificate cover the exact building and is it still valid after later works?
• Is the advertised class copied from its graphical page, or is G only the broker fallback?
• Which energy source, heating system and recommended improvements does the protocol describe?
• Which recent payments are building-wide advances, fixed charges or this household’s consumption?
• Are renovations, a heating-system change or an SVJ investment planned but absent from the current certificate?