Do Houseboats Need An EPC?

If you are looking to sell or rent your houseboat you probably wondered if you need an EPC for your houseboat. In this article I will cover whether you need an EPC as well as some EPC basics. 

First things first, do houseboats need an EPC? 

Thankfully the answer is no, houseboats don’t need an EPC to be rented or sold according to the government of the Netherlands website. There are quite a few items that do require an EPC so keep reading to learn about those items. 

If you are new to the Netherlands, then you are probably wondering what an EPC is? 

An EPC is an energy performance certificate that is required for all buildings when they are going to be rented or sold. This certificate rates your building on how energy efficient it is or isn’t. It will also state what can be done to your building to make it more energy efficient. 

An EPC is required for the following buildings: 

• Multiple unit apartments with a common area
• Recreational properties that are used more than 4 months out of the year or that use more than 25% of the energy that would be used for an entire year. 
• Houses
• Apartments
• Caravans designed time be used for permanent occupation 
• Healthcare facilities 
• Retail buildings
• Government buildings
• Sports facilities
• Office buildings
• Hotels 
• Bars
• Serviced office buildings
• Meeting facilities
• Restaurants
• Cafes
• Theaters 

That certainly seems like virtually every building requires an EPC but that isn’t exactly true. The following don’t require an EPC:

• Building that don’t use any energy to regulate indoor temperature (barns, sheds, etc.)
• Religious buildings
• Listed historic buildings
• Recreational buildings used less than 4 months of the year
• Houseboats
• Detached properties with usable area of less than 50 square meters
• Temporary buildings such as temporary classrooms, retail space, etc. 
• Commercial properties used for processing or storage

Buying or renting out your houseboat doesn’t currently require an EPC in the Netherlands but there are many other buildings (listed above) that do. That could certainly change in the future but as it stands now one is not required. 

Make sure to check the website linked above to ensure that the laws haven’t changed since the writing of this article. 

As always,

Happy Boating