Property checks
What to check before you buy a house, how to check it, and what to ask the seller, your solicitor and your surveyor. Facts with their sources, not ratings. For a particular home, check its postcode.
- Home due diligence reportA home due diligence report from official records: flooding, planning, the ground, radon, noise and the neighbourhood, before you make an offer. Free area check by postcode.
- Home ReportWhat’s in a Scottish Home Report: the survey and valuation, the energy report and the seller’s questionnaire. What it leaves out, and how to check flooding, planning and the ground beside it.
- Flood zone checkerCheck the flood zone for any postcode in England, Scotland or Wales, free, from Environment Agency, SEPA and Natural Resources Wales maps. Then check the house itself.
- Conveyancing searchesThe searches your solicitor or conveyancer orders when you buy a house: local authority, water and drainage, environmental and others. What each shows, and what you can check before you offer.
- Level 2 vs Level 3 surveyThe difference between a RICS Level 2 and Level 3 home survey, which suits which home, and what a survey doesn’t cover, such as flood maps and planning.
- Questions for a viewingThe questions to ask the estate agent and seller when viewing a house: the chain, the price, the building, the area, and what the official records show.
- Conservation areas and listed buildingsWhat it means to buy in a conservation area or a listed building: what you can and can’t change, Article 4 directions, protected trees, and how to check a home before you offer.
- First-time buyer checklistA first-time buyer’s checklist from mortgage to completion: budget, viewings, checking the home’s records, the offer, searches, survey and exchange.
- Flood riskCheck a home’s flood zone, surface water risk and flood history before you buy, from Environment Agency, SEPA and Natural Resources Wales maps. Free by postcode.
- PlanningSee planning applications near a home, whether it’s listed or in a conservation area, and extensions with no planning record. Free planning check by postcode.
- RadonCheck radon potential around a home before you buy, from British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency data, and what to ask the seller about testing.
- Subsidence and groundCheck subsidence and ground movement risk around a home before you buy: shrinking clay, sinkholes, non-coal mining and how a changing climate affects the clay.
- NoiseCheck modelled road and rail noise at a home before you buy, from government noise maps for England, Scotland and Wales, and what the decibel figures mean.
- LandfillCheck for historic landfill sites within 500 m of a home before you buy, from Environment Agency records: when they were used, what they took and whether gas is controlled.