Making an energy label as an EP adviser: how it works

The energy label shows how energy-efficient a home is. The classes run from A++++ (best) to G (worst).

The adviser determines the energy performance with the NTA 8800 method. It is based on European CEN standards. The main measure is primary fossil energy use, in kWh per m² of usable floor area per year.

The label assumes standard use, not the residents' actual energy bill. Since 29 May 2026, the label has a new design, with more information.

An advertisement for sale or rent states the label class and the energy performance indicator. The new owner or tenant gets a copy of the label.

Since 29 May 2026, NTA 8800:2025+C1:2026 has applied. It replaces NTA 8800:2024.

The minister designated the new version in the Omgevingsregeling (the Dutch environment and planning regulation). This was published in the Staatscourant (the Dutch Government Gazette), 2026, 18113. The change partly comes from the European directive EPBD IV.

You can download NTA 8800 free of charge from NEN (the Dutch standards institute). The assessment guidelines BRL 9500 and BRL 9501 are free from InstallQ.

To survey a home, you follow ISSO 82.1, the survey protocol for homes and residential buildings. BRL 9500 designates that protocol; it is not in the law itself.

This also changed on 29 May 2026:

• New data on the label, such as final energy use and greenhouse gas emissions
• Storage of electricity or heat can give up to about 2% better energy performance
• BRL 9500 and BRL 9501 apply in the version of 14 October 2025
• Calculation software had to obtain a new attestation under BRL 9501
• The permitted error in the usable floor area is smaller: 3% (at least 2 m²), was 5%
• Without the mandatory refresher training, an adviser may no longer survey and register labels

The owner must have a valid label at fixed moments. A label is also needed for subletting for more than 4 months.

There are exceptions. A detached building with less than 50 m² of usable floor area does not need a label. Think of a tiny house or a houseboat.

Since 29 May 2026, three moments have been added. Those new obligations come from the European directive EPBD IV (the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive). These are all the fixed moments:

• Completion of a new home
• Sale or new letting of an existing home
• Sale or letting of a holiday home
• Since 29 May 2026: a major renovation, of more than 25% of the building envelope
• Since 29 May 2026: extension or renewal of a tenancy agreement
• Since 29 May 2026: sale or letting of a listed building (monument)

Only a qualified EP adviser may make an energy label. They are certified under BRL 9500, or affiliated with a certified umbrella organisation. For homes and residential buildings, that is BRL 9500-W. The InstallQ foundation manages the BRLs.

A basic adviser only works with the basic method of NTA 8800. A detailed adviser may also calculate new builds, with the detailed method. Residential and non-residential buildings each have a basic and a detailed category.

The training takes 4 to 6 days on average. You take the exam at Cito, 't Examenpark or SNEI. After that, refresher training is required every year.

Qualified advisers are listed in the Centraal Register Techniek (the Dutch central register of technical professionals). The certification bodies are SKG-IKOB, VINK, Kiwa, EPG and ALPHA.

The Dutch government wants public supervision of this system, with the TloKB (the Dutch building quality assurance authority) as supervisor. The proposal went to the Tweede Kamer (House of Representatives) for scrutiny on 22 June 2026. The government's announcement does not yet give a start date.

You make the calculation with software that has a BRL 9501 attestation. Keursnel is not such software: it does not calculate labels and does not register anything in EP-online. The standard building inspection report also says: determining an energy label is outside the inspection.

These are the four categories:

• EP-W/B: homes, basic method only
• EP-W/D: homes, also the detailed method, for example for new builds
• Non-residential basic: non-residential buildings, basic method only
• Non-residential detailed: also the detailed method, and qualified for all four categories

The label is only as good as the data from the survey. If a piece of evidence is missing, the adviser uses a cautious default value. That can result in a worse label.

You measure the usable floor area of the thermal zone according to the Meetinstructie gebruiksoppervlakte woningen (the Dutch measuring instruction for the usable floor area of homes). Which spaces fall within that zone follows from NTA 8800.

Relabelling is possible up to 24 months after the survey, remotely and with the same software version. That is not possible after a change to the thermal envelope or the zones. Think of an extension, a dormer or air conditioning in a bedroom.

If someone sells a home without a valid label, the ILT (the Dutch Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate) can impose a fine. Letting without a label leads to an order subject to a penalty (last onder dwangsom). First comes a warning, with 4 weeks to register a label.

So watch out for these points:

• Collect evidence for every insulation value and installation
• Measure the usable floor area precisely: since 29 May 2026 the permitted error is smaller
• Plan the survey at a time when the owner can be present
• Register the label before the transfer: afterwards it is no longer possible
• An agreement with the buyer not to provide a label does not prevent the fine
• Only let with a label from 1 January 2021 or later, or an Energie-Index (the older energy index), not with a VEL (simplified energy label)

The EPC is the Flemish energieprestatiecertificaat (energy performance certificate). In the app, it belongs to the inspection type “Energielabel en EPC” (energy label and EPC). In Wallonia and Brussels it is called a certificat PEB.

In Flanders, an EPC is required for a sale or a letting. It shows how energy-efficient the home is, and how it can improve. The EPC itself imposes no requirements on the building.

A recognised type A energy expert (energiedeskundige type A) makes the EPC, after a mandatory site visit. They follow the inspection protocol and work with the government's software.

An EPC can only be drawn up with the certification software in the Energieprestatiedatabank (the Flemish energy performance database). So Keursnel does not calculate an EPC, just as it does not calculate a Dutch label.

You also hear “EPC-keuring” (EPC inspection) for the site visit, and “EPC-certificaat” or “EPC-attest” for the EPC itself. An EPC shows, among other things:

• An energy score in kWh per m² per year: the lower, the more efficient
• A label from a red F (poor) to a dark green A+ (very good)
• Recommendations to make the home more energy-efficient
• A validity of up to 10 years

The energy label is listed in Keursnel as coming soon. You cannot make an energy label in it yet. There is no date, and what it will include has not been decided.

Would you like to do the energy label in Keursnel later? Let us know via the contact page, and tell us how you work now.

Right now, you can only do the building inspection in Keursnel. Do you also do building inspections alongside labels? For those, Keursnel already includes:

• Photos with markup, such as arrows, frames and numbered points
• Property data from the BAG (the Dutch national register of addresses and buildings), such as year of construction and usable floor area
• Team and roles, and working with colleagues in one inspection at the same time
• Built to work without internet: your work waits, encrypted, on your device
• A report in your firm's house style (paid plan)
• A report with a checksum, to share with the client via a link