Selling a home without an energy label: the rules

Anyone putting a home up for sale must already have a valid energy label at that moment. Yet homes are regularly advertised without one. That is not without risk: enforcement applies, and without a label you also miss a selling point.

When the label is mandatory

The obligation applies from the moment the home is offered, so already at the listing on Funda or with the estate agent, not only at completion. The label class must be visible in the advertisement. At the notarial transfer the valid label must be provided to the buyer.

A label is valid for ten years from the registration date. If the home still has an old label from before 2021, check the end date; expired labels often surface at the last moment during a sale.

What you risk without a label

The cost of enforcement and delay is out of all proportion to the price of the label itself.

• Enforcement by the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate, with a fine of €550 for private sellers since 1 January 2026 and double that for legal entities.
• Delay at completion, because the notary asks for the label.
• A weaker negotiating position: buyers ask about the label and interpret its absence negatively.

Last minute? Use the express service

If the viewing or the notary appointment is already scheduled, an express service helps: the assessment gets priority in the planning and registration is processed faster. Expect a surcharge, and know that an express assessment remains a full on-site assessment; faster does not mean less thorough.

Better still: arrange the label as soon as the plan to sell becomes concrete. That also leaves time to gain a label step with small measures before the photos and the asking price are set.