§ 40-13B. Energy performance audits - single family homes.

(a)Definitions. In this Section, the following words have the meanings indicated:

Department means the Department of Environmental Protection.

Director means the Director of the Department or the Director’s designee.

Home energy audit means an evaluation of the energy efficiency of a home which includes any test or diagnostic measurement which the Department finds necessary to:

(1) ensure that a home’s energy efficiency is accurately measured; or

(2) identify steps that can be taken to improve a home’s energy efficiency.

Office of Sustainability or Office means the Office of Sustainability in the Department of Environmental Protection created in Section 18A-13.

Single-family home means a single-family detached or attached residential building.

(b) Before signing a contract for the sale of a single-family home, the seller must provide the buyer with:

(1) material approved by the Department that gives information about home energy efficiency improvements, including the benefit of conducting a home energy audit; and

(2) copies of the electric, gas, and home heating oil bills or cost and usage history for the single-family home for the immediate prior 12 months, unless the single-family home was unoccupied for the entire prior 12 months. If the seller did not occupy the single-family home for the entire prior 12 months, the seller must provide the buyer with the required information for that part of the prior 12 months, if any, that the seller occupied the single-family home.

(c) The Office of Sustainability must evaluate options to encourage homeowners to conduct a home energy audit, including whether the County should require a home energy audit to be conducted before the sale of a single-family home. (, § 1; , § 1.)

Editor’s note—2008 L.M.C., ch. 8, § 2, states: Applicability. Section 40-13B, as added by Section 1 of this Act, applies to any sales contract signed on or after January 1, 2009.