Blackburn & surrounding postcodes
EPC Blackburn
Eco Futures provides domestic Energy Performance Certificates in Blackburn, Darwen and the BB1, BB2 and BB3 postcode districts, and in neighbouring BB6, which covers Great Harwood and sits in Hyndburn and Ribble Valley rather than Blackburn with Darwen. Blackburn is about 10 miles east of Preston, well inside the 40-mile area we cover, and the fee is £65 for a home with up to three bedrooms, paid online when you book.
Every certificate is produced by an Elmhurst Energy accredited domestic energy assessor, assessor number EES/035222, and goes onto the national EPC register. You pay in full by card when you book, then pick preferred dates on the site and we phone to confirm one. No deposit is taken, no balance follows, and if the certificate cannot be completed you get a full refund.
Accredited, registered and regulated
What it costs
£65 for up to 3 bedrooms.
Then £5 for each additional bedroom: £70 for a four-bed, £75 for a five-bed. Paid in full when you book, with nothing to pay on the day and no deposit.
The postcode districts we cover around Blackburn
Blackburn and Darwen share three home postcode districts, BB1, BB2 and BB3, and BB6 next door is covered as well. BB1 takes in the town centre and the north and east of the town: Blackburn Central, Bastwell and Daisyfield, Little Harwood and Whitebirk, Roe Lee, and Audley and Queen’s Park. BB2 covers the west and south-west, including Mill Hill and Moorgate, Wensley Fold, and Billinge and Beardwood. BB3 is centred on Darwen, covering Darwen East, South and West along with Ewood and Livesey with Pleasington, and the parishes of Eccleshill, North Turton and Tockholes; it is the only one of the three wholly inside Blackburn with Darwen council. BB1 also runs through Rishton into Hyndburn, through Wilpshire, Mellor and Clayton-le-Dale into Ribble Valley and out to Helmshore in Rossendale, while BB2 crosses into South Ribble at Samlesbury and into Chorley around Hoghton and Brindle. BB6 covers Great Harwood in Hyndburn, with Billington and Langho and Brockhall and Dinckley in Ribble Valley, and its centre is under 12 miles from Preston. Coverage is a straight line from Preston rather than a council boundary, so the booking form confirms your postcode before you pay.
What Blackburn housing means for your EPC
Blackburn with Darwen is a terraced borough, more so than either Preston or Blackpool. Terraced houses are 43.4% of households here, against 29.2% in Preston and 29.5% in Blackpool. Semi-detached houses account for 29.5% and detached houses for 15.2%, purpose-built flats for 9.4% and converted or shared houses for 1.2%. The figures cover the whole borough, so Darwen is counted alongside Blackburn itself.
In whole numbers, 25,507 of the borough’s 58,766 households are terraced and 17,343 are semi-detached, so terraces are the largest single group by a wide margin. House type does not change what you pay. The fee follows bedrooms: £65 up to three, then £5 for every bedroom above that to a limit of ten, so a four-bedroom house is £70 and a five-bedroom £75. A visit takes about 45 minutes for a typical property and longer for a large detached house.
Flats and converted homes are a smaller part of the picture. 5,550 households are in a purpose-built block of flats, 727 in a converted or shared house including bedsits, and 445 in a commercial building such as a flat over a shop. GOV.UK requires an EPC when a property is sold, rented out or newly built, and each self-contained home is a property in its own right, so a converted building holding several flats needs a certificate for each one rather than one for the building.
Tenure decides when a certificate is needed. 60.5% of households in the borough own their home and 33.3% own it outright. The requirement is triggered by selling, letting or building, so a long-held house that has done none of those things will usually have nothing on the register at all. Private renting stands at 20.2%, with 17.5% of all households renting from a private landlord or letting agency, and social renting at 18.8%, made up of 14.1% of all households in the other social rented category and 4.6% renting from the council.
Housing mix and tenure figures: ONS Census 2021, tables TS044 and TS054, Blackburn with Darwen local authority.
Why people in Blackburn order an EPC
Selling a house
Terraced and semi-detached houses together are 72.9% of households in the borough. An EPC has to be ordered for potential buyers before the property is marketed, so it is worth booking before you instruct an agent.
Letting in BB1, BB2 or BB3
17.5% of local households rent from a private landlord or letting agency. Since 1 April 2020 a landlord cannot let or continue to let a property covered by the minimum energy efficiency standard where the rating is F or G, unless an exemption is registered. The EPC establishes that rating.
Homes let by social landlords
14.1% of households in the borough are in the census category of other social rented, and a further 4.6% rent from the council. Each address is assessed on its own and lodged separately on the national register, and each is booked and paid for in the same way as any other property.
Replacing an expired rating
A certificate is valid for ten years. If a home has had a new boiler, insulation or new windows since the last assessment, the public record still carries the older rating until a fresh certificate replaces it.
EPCs in Blackburn, answered
- Do you cover Darwen and the BB3 postcodes as well as Blackburn?
- Yes. BB3 is the Darwen district and the only one of the three lying wholly inside Blackburn with Darwen council, reaching north through Ewood into south Blackburn. Its centre is about 10 miles from Preston, so the price and the process match the town centre.
- What does a four-bedroom house in Blackburn cost?
- £70. Three bedrooms or fewer is £65, and each bedroom above that adds £5, so a five-bedroom house is £75, up to a maximum of ten bedrooms. Four or more bedrooms is the smaller share locally: 42.1% of households in the borough have three bedrooms, 31.4% have two and 8.5% have one, leaving 18.1% with four or more. The whole amount is paid by card when you book.
- How soon after paying can the assessor come out?
- Blackburn is about 10 miles from Preston in a straight line. We aim to book the assessment within 24 hours of the order, working from the dates you pick after paying. Once the visit is done, the certificate is lodged and the link emailed within 2 to 24 hours of lodgement.
- I have owned my house for decades and never had an EPC. Do I need one to sell?
- Yes. A third of households in the borough own their home outright, and a home that has never been sold, let or newly built is unlikely to have a certificate on the register. You must order one for potential buyers before the property is marketed, so arrange it at the start.
- My postcode is BB1 or BB6 but my council is not Blackburn with Darwen. Does that change anything?
- No. BB1 reaches into Hyndburn, Ribble Valley and Rossendale, BB2 into South Ribble and Chorley, and BB6 lies entirely in Hyndburn and Ribble Valley. Council boundaries make no difference to the price or to the certificate. The booking form checks the postcode itself and tells you whether you are covered.
- Can I cancel after I have booked?
- Yes. There is a 14-day right to cancel, and if the EPC cannot be completed you get a full refund. Payment is taken in full when you book, with no deposit and no later invoice, so cancelling means a refund rather than a bill.
Book your Blackburn EPC
Order online in a couple of minutes, or call and we will take the details over the phone. Either way the certificate is lodged on the national register and emailed to you.