Southport & surrounding postcodes
EPC Southport
We provide domestic Energy Performance Certificates across Southport and its two postcode districts, PR8 and PR9, from Ainsdale and Birkdale in the south through the town centre to Churchtown, Marshside and Crossens. The work is for people selling a house, landlords letting a flat or a house, and owners who have improved a property and want the register to show it.
Southport is about 16 miles from Preston in a straight line, well inside the 40-mile area we cover. An Elmhurst-accredited domestic energy assessor visits the property in person, and the certificate goes onto the national EPC register once it is complete. The price is £65 for a home with up to three bedrooms, paid online when you book, with nothing to pay afterwards.
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 Southport postcodes we cover
Southport is served by PR8 and PR9. PR8 takes in most of the town centre, including Lord Street, along with the Ainsdale, Birkdale, Cambridge, Duke's, Harington, Kew and Norwood wards of Sefton council, and the Rural West ward of West Lancashire. PR9 runs north and east through the Meols ward, which covers Churchtown and Crossens, and on into the Cambridge ward around Marshside. It shares the Cambridge, Duke's, Kew, Norwood and Rural West wards with PR8. Both districts stretch past the town boundary. PR8 reaches Halsall and Scarisbrick, and PR9 reaches Scarisbrick, North Meols and Tarleton, including Banks and the Burscough Bridge and Rufford ward. A Southport postcode does not always mean a Sefton address, which changes nothing about the certificate or the price. Coverage is worked out by distance from Preston, and the PR9 centroid is about 13 miles away with PR8 about 16. Formby and Crosby to the south mostly carry L postcodes rather than PR, though PR8 reaches into the Formby parish. Both are covered on the same terms.
What Southport housing means for your EPC
The 2021 Census figures below are for Sefton borough, which runs from Southport down through Formby and Crosby to Bootle. They cover 123,073 households rather than Southport on its own, so treat them as a guide to the mix. Sefton is 46.1% semi-detached, with 16.2% detached, 18.4% terraced and 13.6% of households in purpose-built flats. Nearly half of all homes are semis, a heavier lean towards one house type than Preston at 34.2% or Blackpool at 39.4%.
A semi built between the wars or after them usually has cavity walls, and whether that cavity has been insulated is often the single biggest swing in the rating. The assessor records what can be evidenced on the day, such as drill patterns in the brickwork or an installer's guarantee, so any installation paperwork you have is worth finding before the visit. The terraced share is smaller at 18.4%, but older terraces are the ones most likely to have solid brick walls, and on those the rating then rests on how deep the loft insulation is, how the heating is controlled, and whether the windows are double glazed.
Flats are a bigger part of the picture than the 13.6% purpose-built figure suggests. Another 4.2% of Sefton households live in part of a converted or shared house, and 1.0% live in what the Census calls a commercial building, such as a flat over a shop. Each self-contained flat is assessed as a dwelling in its own right, and where a block runs on a communal boiler the assessment records that shared system. Detached houses are 16.2% of households. Our price follows the bedroom count, so a four-bedroom detached house in Birkdale is £70 and a five-bedroom one is £75, and a large detached house takes longer than the 45 minutes a typical property needs.
Tenure decides who books. Sefton is 66.6% owner-occupied, and 37.7% of all households own outright, more than half of all owners. Many are long-held homes whose certificate, if there is one, dates from a sale years ago and misses every improvement since. Private renting is 18.2%, and 14.4% of households rent from a social landlord, 11.0% from housing associations and other social landlords against 3.4% from the council. For a private landlord the rating on the certificate is what the minimum energy efficiency standard for rented homes is measured against, and for a seller the certificate has to be commissioned before the house is marketed.
Housing mix and tenure figures: ONS Census 2021, tables TS044 and TS054, Sefton local authority.
Why people in Southport book an EPC
Selling a family home
Two thirds of Sefton households own their home, so sales are the main reason for a certificate here. It has to be commissioned before the home is marketed, so it is usually one of the first things to arrange for a sale.
Letting a flat or a house
Privately rented homes are 18.2% of the borough's households. A landlord needs a valid certificate for the property before letting it, and the rating it records is what the minimum energy efficiency standard for rented homes is measured against.
Flats in converted houses
Converted and shared houses hold 4.2% of Sefton households, with another 1.0% in what the Census counts as a commercial building, an office block, a hotel or a flat over a shop. A self-contained flat is assessed as a dwelling in its own right, so a converted house split into three flats means three separate assessments. Each one is booked and priced separately.
Bringing an old certificate up to date
A house owned outright for decades may still carry a certificate from a sale long ago. A new boiler, new windows or a topped-up loft only reach the public record when a fresh assessment is lodged.
EPCs in Southport, answered
- What does an EPC cost for a four-bedroom house in Birkdale?
- £70. The price is £65 for any home with up to three bedrooms and £5 for each bedroom above that, which puts a four-bedroom house at £70 and a five-bedroom at £75. You pay in full online by card when booking, with no deposit and nothing to pay afterwards.
- My PR9 address is in West Lancashire rather than Sefton. Does that make a difference?
- No. Both PR8 and PR9 cross the boundary between Sefton and West Lancashire. PR8 takes in Halsall and Scarisbrick, and PR9 takes in Scarisbrick, Tarleton and the North Meols parish, which includes Banks. The certificate and the price are the same whichever council you pay. We check coverage by distance from Preston, and both districts are inside the 40-mile limit.
- My home is a 1930s semi. What usually decides its rating?
- Four things carry most of the weight: whether the cavity walls have been insulated, how much insulation is in the loft, the age and type of boiler and its controls, and the glazing. The assessor records each of them as found on the visit.
- How soon will I have the certificate?
- We aim to book the visit within 24 hours of your order. The visit takes about 45 minutes for a typical semi or terrace, longer for a large detached house. The certificate is then lodged on the national register and the link emailed to you within 2 to 24 hours of lodgement.
- I own my house outright and am not selling. Is there any reason to get one?
- There is no legal requirement, and with 37.7% of Sefton households owning outright that describes a lot of Southport. The practical reason is that the recommendations on the certificate set out what would cut your heating bills. It is also the starting point for whole-house retrofit advice, which we quote separately.
- What happens after I pay, and can I cancel?
- After paying you pick preferred dates on the site, then we phone to confirm the visit. The assessor comes to the property, and the certificate is lodged and emailed to you. If the EPC cannot be completed you get a full refund, and you have a 14-day right to cancel in any case.
Book your Southport 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.