Energy label when renting out an apartment: rules, cost and fines

When you rent out an apartment or a house in Denmark for more than 4 weeks, a valid energy labelling (energimærkning) must exist, and the tenant must have received it before you sign the lease. If you advertise the home in commercial media, the energy label (energimærke) must appear in the listing. If you own an owner-occupied apartment (ejerlejlighed) in an apartment building, the label covers the whole building, and the owners' association (ejerforening) must give it to you free of charge. If you own a house, you pay for the label yourself. If you do not follow the rules, the Danish Energy Agency (Energistyrelsen) can order you to put things right, and the breach is punishable by a fine.

When do you need an energy label to rent out?

Always, when you rent out a building or a home in a building, unless an exemption fits your situation. When a property is let, an energy labelling must exist for the building or the home, and it is the landlord's duty to make sure the tenant has received it before the lease is entered into (Act on the promotion of energy savings in buildings (lov om fremme af energibesparelser i bygninger), § 7(1), in Danish). This also applies to a fixed-term lease of, say, 6 months while you work abroad. Only lettings of at most 4 weeks per letting are exempt (Executive Order on energy labelling of buildings, § 17(3), in Danish).

Your situation	Energy label required?
Apartment or house let without a fixed end date	Yes
Fixed-term letting of more than 4 weeks, for example six months	Yes
Stays of at most 4 weeks per letting, for example on Airbnb	No (§ 17(3))
Apartment under 60 m² in an apartment building	Yes. The limit applies to the building, not the apartment
Detached building with a total floor area under 60 m²	No (§ 5, no. 1)
Summer house registered as a summer house in the building register (BBR)	No (§ 4, no. 2)
Listed building	No under the current rules (§ 5, no. 4)

Is there a 60 m² limit?

Yes, but it applies to the building. A detached building with a total floor area under 60 m² is exempt (§ 5, no. 1, of the Executive Order). An apartment building is labelled as one building (§ 6), and according to the Danish Energy Agency (in Danish), the labelling must cover the whole property. A 45 m² apartment in an apartment building in Nørrebro is therefore not exempt just because the apartment itself is small.

Short-term rental and Airbnb

Stays of at most 4 weeks per letting are exempt from the energy labelling requirement, whatever the size of the home, says the Danish Energy Agency (in Danish). So for typical stays on Airbnb you do not need an energy label. The limit applies to each letting. If you rent out the home for 5 weeks or 3 months, furnished or not, you are covered. If you switch from short stays to an ordinary lease, the label must be in place before the new tenant signs. If you would rather let for short stays, see our page on Airbnb management.

What you must do: before the lease and in the listing

You must do two things: give the tenant the energy labelling before you sign, and show the energy label in the listing. If you advertise in commercial media, you must make sure the listing at all times shows an energy label from a valid energy labelling (§ 8 a of the Act, in Danish). So the label must exist when the listing goes online, not only once you have found a tenant.

• Use the most recent energy labelling, and check that it is still valid (§ 10).
• You may give the tenant the energy labelling electronically, for example as a PDF together with the draft lease (§ 13(2) of the Executive Order). Keep a record that the tenant has received it.
• If an agent advertises for you under a power of attorney, the agent must also show the energy label, and you must give the agent the energy labelling before the advertising starts (§ 8 b(1) and (3)).

The energy label belongs with the paperwork alongside the lease. See how to fill in the lease, standard form A10, and the rest of the preparation in our checklist for getting your home ready to rent out.

How long is the energy label valid?

An energy labelling is valid for 10 years from the day the Danish Energy Agency sent the report with the label number to the firm (§ 15 of the Executive Order). The same label can be used for several lettings and sales during that period. It loses its validity if changes have been made that significantly affect the building's energy performance. According to sparenergi.dk (in Danish), a change is typically significant if it changes the label or the calculated consumption by more than 10%, for example when the heat source is replaced. Labels from before 2017 had their validity extended from 7 to 10 years with retroactive effect, so a label from 2016 is valid until 2026. If the report shows an earlier expiry date, that reflects the old rule.

Owner-occupied apartment, co-op or house: who gets the label?

It depends on how you own the home. The duty to have an energy labelling made lies with the owner of the building, and for buildings with owner-occupied apartments with the owners' association (§ 5 of the Act, in Danish).

• Owner-occupied apartment in an apartment building. At your request, the owners' association must make an energy labelling covering your apartment available to you free of charge. If a valid one exists, you must have it within 8 days of your request. If none exists, the association must agree the labelling with a certified firm within 3 weeks and give it to you within 60 days of your request (§ 6(2) to (4), see § 7(2)). Ask the board as soon as you know you want to rent out.
• Owner-occupied apartment in a terraced, linked or semi-detached house. Here each home is labelled as if it were a separate building (§ 2, no. 1, of the Executive Order), so you as the owner must arrange the label (§ 5(2) of the Act and the Danish Energy Agency, in Danish).
• Co-op home (andelsbolig). If you sublet your co-op home, the label covers the whole property, and the co-op association as the building owner is responsible for the property being labelled (sparenergi.dk, in Danish). Ask the board for the label.
• House. You order the labelling yourself from a certified energy labelling firm. You can find a firm on sparenergi.dk (in Danish).

How to find an energy label that already exists

Search for the address under «Find energimærket» on sparenergi.dk (in Danish). According to the site, most buildings with many apartments have a valid label, because the whole building is labelled if an apartment in it has been sold or let within the last 10 years. The label is shown on a scale from A2020 to G, and the report also lists suggested improvements. If you find a valid label, you can use it. If it has expired, a new one must be made.

What does an energy label cost, and who pays?

The landlord pays. That is what the Danish Energy Agency (in Danish) says, and for an owner-occupied apartment the owners' association pays, because it must give you the label free of charge. For smaller buildings there is a cap on the price, including all costs. The cap applies to detached single-family houses, terraced, linked and semi-detached houses and apartment buildings under 300 m², based on the heated area of the whole building (Executive Order no. 313/2025, § 8, in Danish). From 1 January 2026 the cap is as follows, according to the Danish Energy Agency (in Danish):

Heated area of the building	Maximum, incl. VAT
Under 100 m²	DKK 7,226
100-199 m²	DKK 7,950
200-299 m²	DKK 8,786
Single-family house without a building survey	DKK 1,410

The cap is reduced by DKK 339 if the building was built after 1 January 1980, by DKK 1,130 if there is an energy label made under the rules in force from 1 September 2006, and by DKK 226 if the energy consultant receives scale drawings. The amounts are adjusted every 1 January. Only newer single-family houses can be labelled without a building survey (§ 8(2) of the Executive Order on energy labelling). For apartment buildings and multi-family houses over 300 m², there is no price cap, according to sparenergi.dk (in Danish), and the price is agreed with the firm. The Danish Energy Agency says it pays to get several quotes.

Can the cost be included in the heating account?

Yes, if you supply the heating and prepare a heating account (varmeregnskab). The cost of the energy labelling is included in the account for heating and hot water in equal amounts in each year the labelling is valid, and you may include reasonable interest on the part the tenants have not yet paid (§ 72(5) of the Rent Act (lejeloven), in Danish). The same provision requires you to tell the tenants about the energy labelling and to show them the material if they ask. Read more about the heating account in a rental home.

Fines and orders: what happens if you have no label?

You can be given an order and a fine. Anyone who fails to make sure the tenant receives the energy labelling before the lease, or fails to show the energy label in the listing, is punishable by a fine (§ 32 of the Act, see §§ 7, 8 a and 8 b, in Danish). The Act does not set an amount, but the size of the building can be taken into account when the fine is set (§ 32(2)). The Danish Energy Agency can also order you to put things right within a deadline (§ 31 a). According to the Danish Energy Agency (in Danish), this means you must agree an energy labelling with a firm and send documentation, and an owners' association that does not meet its deadlines can also be given an order and a fine. Failing to comply with an order is punishable by a fine.

Can you rent out a home with a poor energy label?

Yes. Neither the Act nor the Executive Order requires a particular label to rent out. The requirement is that the label exists, is handed over and appears in the listing. The label can, however, matter for the rent. If a tenancy with cost-based rent has been comprehensively improved, the rent can only be set at the rental value (det lejedes værdi) if the property has energy label A-C or has improved by two steps compared with its label on 1 July 2020 (§ 19(2) and (6) of the Rent Act, in Danish). See more about rent regulation.

Are new rules coming with the EU buildings directive?

Perhaps, but they have not been adopted in Denmark yet. The EU's recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, Directive (EU) 2024/1275, was due to be transposed into national law by 29 May 2026 (European Commission). In December 2025, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities sent a bill out for consultation (in Danish) with a proposed entry into force of 29 May 2026. Among other things, it contained:

• a duty to obtain a new energy labelling after a building has undergone major renovation work,
• more public buildings covered by the energy labelling requirement,
• a voluntary renovation passport to supplement the energy label,
• minimum energy performance standards, but according to the consultation letter only for buildings not used as homes.

The Danish Energy Agency's draft of a new executive order (in Danish) from the same month proposed, among other things, removing the exemption for listed buildings and allowing energy labelling based on a virtual building survey. On 28 October 2026, Retsinformation still shows Consolidated Act no. 1253/2025 and Executive Order no. 549/2023 as in force, and we have not found an adopted bill. The rules in this article are therefore the ones that apply. We will update the article when new rules are adopted.

When we rent out your home

If you let us rent out your home, we ask for the energy label when you add your home, and we include it in the listing. As the agent, we must receive the energy labelling from you before the listing goes online (§ 8 b(3) of the Act), so get it in good time, or ask your owners' association for it straight away. The tenant receives it together with the lease before anything is signed. Long-term rental costs 8.5% excl. VAT of the monthly rent. Read more about long-term rental, or see what your home could earn.

The article is based on rules published up to and including 28 October 2026. It is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

• Act on the promotion of energy savings in buildings, Consolidated Act no. 1253/2025 (Retsinformation, in Danish)
• Executive Order no. 549/2023 on energy labelling of buildings (Retsinformation, in Danish)
• Executive Order no. 313/2025 on fees for services under the Act on the promotion of energy savings in buildings (Retsinformation, in Danish)
• The Rent Act (lejeloven), Act no. 341/2022 (Retsinformation, in Danish)
• When must buildings be energy labelled? (Danish Energy Agency, in Danish)
• What does an energy label cost? (Danish Energy Agency, in Danish)
• Save energy with your home's energy label (sparenergi.dk, in Danish)
• Find an energy labelling firm (sparenergi.dk, in Danish)
• Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (European Commission)
• Consultation letter on the bill amending the Act on the promotion of energy savings in buildings, 08.12.2025 (Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities, in Danish)
• Consultation letter on the draft executive order on energy labelling of buildings, 10.12.2025 (Danish Energy Agency, in Danish)