Administration for BER Assessors

All issues pertaining to renewals, resignation, suspension and termination of BER Assessor registration are dealt with under BER Assessor registration.

Insurance

All BER Assessors are required to have the following Insurance as a condition of registration:

• Public / Products Liability Insurance with an minimum limit of €6,500,000 any one event for Public Liability
• Professional liability insurance with a minimum limit of €1,300,000 for any one claim
• Employers Liability Insurance (applicable to employer/employee registrations only). Policy provides an indemnity limit of not less than €13,000,000 for any one event

Record Keeping

Upon completion of a BER assessment for a dwelling, the BER Assessor shall submit to SEAI the related BER data file from the Dwelling Energy Assessment Procedure software and any associated data and/or documentation that SEAI shall determine from time to time. In accordance with the European Communities (Energy Performance of Buildings) Regulations, 2006, SEAI shall only publish a BER certificate if SEAI accepts a BER data file into the BER Register.

In accordance with the Regulations, all data, documentation and records relating to a BER assessment are the property of SEAI and shall be furnished to SEAI on demand.

These include:

BER Certificates;
Provisional BER Certificates;
Advisory Reports;
BER data files constituting the output of BER assessments; and
All supporting drawings, data and other documentation supporting the
BER assessment.

The BER Assessor is responsible for retention and maintenance of all such data, documentation and records as (s)he considers may be required to support any assessments (s)he has carried out for the lifetime of the BER.

Templates

Under Section 11 of the Code of Practice, a BER Assessor is required to provide in writing to the client a quotation including price and any circumstances where the client may incur additional cost, and to obtain the client's written acceptance of this offer prior to commencing any BER work. Please refer to Section 11 of the BER Assessors Code of Practice.

To assist BER Assessors in discharging this obligation a template has been prepared for use by any BER Assessor who might consider it to be a useful basis on which to contract with their clients. To view or download the Letter of Engagement templates, please click here for New Dwellings and here for Existing Dwellings.

Quality AssuranceSystem

As an integral part of the Quality Assurance System, Assessor audits are being carried out in the form of Data Review Audits, Desk Audits and Documentation & Practice Audits.

Desk audits involve the request of substantiation of entries in the Assessor published DEAP xml data file to be submitted to SEAI for validation.

Documentation and Practice audits involve the visit of an auditor to the Assessor premises for audit of both the Assessors practice and substantiation of DEAP xml data files.

The Data Review audit requests are issued by e-mail to the Assessors registered email address and comprise of basic evaluation of the Assessors compliance with specific elements of the Code of Practice and the DEAP methodology.

Please ensure that if you are in receipt of such an e-mail that you respond promptly within the 28 days permitted. Failure to do so will result in an audit non-compliance being recorded. Please note that in cases in which a BER Assessor is non-compliant with three or more Data Review Audits, that Assessor will then be subject to a detailed Documentation and Practice audit.

Disciplinary Process and the Penalty Points System

As an integral part of the Quality Assurance System (QAS), the Disciplinary Process ensures that both the quality and integrity of the scheme is maintained. Disciplinary sanction can arise from audits or complaints. Audits can be selected on either a random or targeted basis at SEAI’s discretion. The DisciplinaryProcedure is available here.

Marketing Guidelines

Marketing Guidelines are available with respect to inclusion of references to SEAI or Building Energy Rating in promotional materials for BER Assessors, Training Providers and/or Developers.