France Property Shop Launches New Energy Rating Tool for French Agents

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK - In response to new regulations regarding the France Property Energy Performance Ratings, France Property Shop has launched a new tool to help estate agents comply with the rule changes on their own sites. The tool will enable agents to quickly and easily create the required energy performance ratings graph now required for property adverts.

The law has required an energy rating for property for sale in France since 2007, but not until the point of contract. Beginning January 1st of this year, the energy rating must now be displayed with the initial listing of the property. The new rules apply regardless of whether a property is sold privately or through an estate agent. The rules also apply to property being offered for rent.

While the goal of energy performance ratings is to encourage French property owners to increase the energy efficiency of their homes, real estate professionals are worried that the implementation of the new rules may have an adverse effect on the market. There is a concern that if home owners must spend significant amounts of money to achieve a high rating before their homes are ever listed, many will decide it is not worth the cost involved and make a decision not to sell. If such concerns turn out to be true, the number of properties on the market will obviously decrease, causing inflated prices across the board.

The responsibility of estate agents to be sure an energy performance ratings survey has been conducted is no small matter. The government has imposed heavy fines and other penalties for violations including the cancellation of the sale of an individual property, and even the possibility of a prison sentence. It is imperative for estate agents to be sure the regulations are followed and that energy performance rating information is made part of their property adverts.

By downloading the energy performance rating tool from France Property Shop, estate agents will find preparing the information required for the listing to be easy and pain free, even for not-so-web-savvy individuals. After entering the necessary data the tool generates an easy-to-read graph based on a sliding scale from 0 to 2000. This graph can then be included in property listings on their site.

France Property Shop has allowed agents and private sellers the ability to add their energy performance ratings since December 2010. Advertisers can input their kWh/m2/year rating for each property and the graph, rating and primary energy consumption band is created for them automatically on the site.

About France Property Shop:

France Property Shop is an online marketplace for listing, viewing, and selling property in France from the market-leading magazines, websites and exhibitions in the French sector. The site attracts more than 30,000 monthly visitors who spend an average of 18 minutes browsing 25 pages per visit.

France Property Shop offers a multitude of services and options to help real estate agents make the most of their properties. For more information regarding agent services, listed properties, or the free energy performance ratings tool.