Well, they are saying that they are happy enough that the Irish authorities will react once complained to them, and unless there's evidence that this isn't happening there isn't much they can do.
Local first I guess, as in many of the EU directives...

I complained five times to my local Council. They failed to acknowledge, respond to correspondence or enforce the law. I provided this evidence to the Commission.
When I verbally spoke to the Building Control Officer in the local Council, they said they did not have the resources to enforce yet another law...
I'm unaware of anyone in the country who has been fined or prosecuted for failing to display a BER despite it being an offence for the past 3.5 years.

Good on you for pushing it. I guess the next step would be to continue to complain and then tell the EC that nothing has changed?

It's impossible to buy a property without a BER.
You can bid and go sale agreed without one, but not buy.
And yes, I know you need one legally to put it on the market, but you also legally require a TV licence.

I've bought a few that were late in getting a cert.
But in every case, you know that the rating is going to be bad, so it doesn't really make much of a difference.

Simple rule, if a BER is going to be good, the seller would have invested money to make it so and consequently will view the BER as a selling point. They will have a BER done immediately.
If they're slow to get it then just assume an E1 or worse.
The chances are, the property will be in need of obvious work, thereby deeming the initial vendors BER effectively irrelevant.

When I was buying I used the BER as a rough proxy for "has this house been recently renovated". BER C or better, then yes.

pass the (shit) parcel

Domestic Building Energy Ratings
Quarter 4 2016

http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublica ... rter42016/

96% of dwellings built since 2010 are "A" or "B" rated

Domestic Building Energy Ratings
Quarter 3 2017

http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublica ... rter32017/

94% of dwellings built during 2015-2017 were "A" rated

Domestic Building Energy Ratings
Quarter 4 2017

http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublica ... rter42017/

95% of dwellings built during 2015-2017 were "A" rated

They basically don't give planning unless it's a rated I think.

Living in an A rated house is amazing. Very much recommend.

Does anyone know where we are with this? As far as I can see most houses for sale or rent on daft.ie and myhome.ie do not list the BER. There seems to be zero enforcement. Who do you report breaches to - your local council or a state agency?

Ok, I read through the history of this thread:

- Daft and MyHome have informed EAs multiple times that they must insert a BER in their ads.

Both replied to me a the time with MyHome taking a more active lead. They even let you filter by BER

- Current compliance on MyHome:
19,291 for sale
12,070 with a BER + 944 claiming Exempt = 13,014
=67% have some BER inserted.

Of course, there is no way to guarantee this is the actual BER certified and not just any old one put in to get your ad up.

-SEAI say enforcement is not in their remit and you must contact local council. Most councils do not have the resources nor see this as a high enough priority to enforce, despite it being the law.

-EAs will have copped this by now and zero incentive to fill it in.

-Yes, you cannot legally purchase a house without a BER being done, but it remains caveat emptor: The BER you are told, if told at all, may not be the reality. And by the time you get to closing, only a major swing in expected BER vs actual would likely cause you to pull out of a sale

Is it possible that the properties being advertised without BER aren't actually for sale?

Off the top of my head, BER is the only thing you have to pay for before putting an ad up.