Regulations regarding insulating outside of older home after purchase

[burningkrome 27]

We have purchased a home from built in 1980s, in southern Germany. We are aware that there's a requirement to provide external wall insulation for older homes within 2 years of purchase. The external façade of the house is in good shape, and does not necessarily require refurbishment at this time.

- What are the legal requirements for insulating a home after purchase?
- What are the actual deadlines, and fines for missed deadlines (I.e. what really gets enforced, versus what the legislation says for minimum/maximum enforcement?)
- What are the requirements for the insulation itself (minimum versus maximum requirements?)
- Is there flexibility in deadlines and type of insulation provided?
- Are there companies that specialize in this?

If someone could point me towards some good (preferably English) websites discussing this - as well as the correct German terms to search for - I'd be grateful.

Thanks!

[HH_Sailor 3,655]

Google (translate) is your friend...

From here :
https://www.energie-experten.org/bauen-und-sanieren/altbausanierung/energetische-sanierung/sanierungspflicht

the essentials in brief
If one or two-family houses change owners, this often results in obligations for the new owners to carry out energy-related refurbishment .

The old building must meet the requirements of the Building Energy Act within two years .

The Building Energy Act makes no distinction as to whether the house was inherited or bought .
Owners who live in their house for a long time are currently exempt from many obligations .

If there is a change of ownership, gas or oil boilers that are more than 30 years old must be taken out of service
and heating and hot water pipes in unheated rooms must be insulated .
In addition, the GEG results in obligations to renovate the top floor ceiling . If there has been no thermal insulation up to now,
the ceiling must be insulated afterwards, although exceptions are permitted .

If the minimum thermal insulation is not even in place , the Building Energy Act (GEG) obliges subsequent insulation .
And this must then exceed the minimum thermal protection.

As long as you do not want to renovate external walls, even uninsulated ones , you are not obliged to insulate them .
However, if you carry out a renovation to a certain extent ,
for example applying new plaster, you are obliged to achieve a certain energy quality at the same time .


More details in the link above.
HTH

PS
Did your estate agent / building surveyor not mention all this ?

[catjones 1,702]

So, after a home is purchased, are there inspectors who come around two years later to see if every house is in compliance?

[snowingagain 5,441]

The chimney sweep reports you. Fine of up to 50K. There are also grants available which can be quite attractive.

[optimista 5,925]

I can see problems arising from the addition of external thermal cladding increasing the surface area of a building... building permission required ?

[burningkrome 27]

@HH_Sailor

Thanks for the complete answer. No, unfortunately, the realtor mentioned none of this. But he was pretty lax on a lot of things :D It took us over 6 months to close, because they lost a bunch of paperwork :D