There is no fixed fee for an EPC. Assessors set their own prices, and across the UK a domestic certificate runs from about £35 in the most competitive cities to £120 for a large house in an expensive area. Most people pay between £55 and £90.
The short version
Compare the lodged, VAT-inclusive figure, not the headline. Ask whether travel and lodgement are included. Booking direct beats a panel or an agent, because both add a fee to the same local assessor's visit.
What people actually pay
- Independent local assessors: usually £55 to £75. The cheapest route, and the assessor keeps the fee.
- National booking platforms: £60 to £95. They subcontract to the same local assessors and add a margin.
- Through an estate agent: £80 to £120. Convenient, and you pay for the convenience.
- Large or unusual homes: more, because floor area and the number of separate heated spaces drive the time on site.
- Commercial premises: from about £100 and up sharply with floor area. A different qualification and a different method — see commercial EPCs.
The four things that move the price
- Size. A five-bedroom house takes two or three times as long to walk and measure as a one-bedroom flat, and the assessor is pricing time.
- Distance. A mobile assessor prices the drive. This is where rural Lincolnshire addresses pick up a surcharge that was not in the advertised figure.
- Urgency. A same-day or weekend slot displaces something else and is usually charged for.
- What is in the number. Whether VAT is included, and whether the lodgement fee the assessor pays their accreditation scheme is inside the price or added on the invoice.
How the cheap ones work
A £35 EPC is real, but it is usually one of three things: an assessor building a round in a dense city where the next job is streets away, a loss-leader that expects to sell you a floorplan or a legionella assessment on the day, or a headline that becomes £55 once VAT, travel and lodgement are added.
None of those is dishonest, and a cheap certificate from an accredited assessor is exactly as valid as an expensive one. The register does not record what you paid. What you are buying at the higher end is time on site, someone who will look for the evidence that improves your rating rather than assuming the default, and a person who answers the phone afterwards.
The one genuine risk is an unaccredited assessment, which cannot be lodged. If a price looks impossible, ask which scheme they are accredited by and check it.
What should always be included
- The site visit, however long the property takes.
- Lodgement on the national register. Without it there is no certificate.
- The certificate itself as a PDF, plus the register reference so you can find it again.
- VAT, stated. Ask if it is not.
- Travel, within the assessor's normal area.
Who pays
The seller pays for a sale and the landlord pays for a let. Since the Tenant Fees Act 2019 the cost cannot be passed to a tenant or taken from a deposit, and there is no version of an EPC that a tenant can lawfully be charged for. A buyer never pays for the seller's certificate.
Whether a fresh one is worth it
If a valid certificate is already on the register and still describes the building, you need nothing. If you have improved the property since, a new assessment is the only way the register shows it, and on a rental heading towards the proposed C minimum that is worth having on record early. Check the register first; it costs nothing to look.
Where we stand
Our planned price is £69 including VAT, fixed, with travel and lodgement inside it, and it will sit alongside the inventory and check-in so a landlord gets one visit rather than two. We are not accredited yet, so nothing is charged and no booking is taken until we are. Register interest for one message on launch day.
Written by The Surveyor Co, a trading name of LW Renovation Group Ltd, Lincoln. This guide describes how records are written and read; it is not legal advice. Where a deposit scheme, lease or insurer sets a rule, that rule wins.