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The best property check depends on the question. Free official lookups can answer a single topic; lower-priced consumer reports start below HouseCheckup; a reviewed screening report can organise available records. Official conveyancing searches and a survey serve different purposes and should be chosen with the relevant professional.
For a shortlist, start with the relevant free sources and public samples. For the property you may buy, decide whether you need interpreted screening, formal legal-search evidence or a physical inspection before choosing a provider.
Write down the unanswered question before choosing a bundle: neighbourhood context, transaction prices, a mapped risk, an official legal search or the building's condition. These are different tasks. A source count or a single score does not establish that the report answers all of them.
PostcodeCheck advertises an optional £3.99 buyer report; HomeBuyerCheck Premium is £4.99 and Premium+ is £6.99; MyPropertyScan's full report is £9.99. These are lower or similar entry prices to HouseCheckup Lite. These offers have lower entry prices, but price alone cannot establish comparable coverage or accuracy.
Subscriptions should be compared over the actual period and number of reports you expect to use. Confirm tax, usage caps, automatic renewal, access after cancellation and whether an advertised PDF feature is available now. We do not award a quality score to paid output we have not tested.
An address can select the nearest relevant record or map cell without making every result specific to the building. An area crime rate, regional geology class and matched EPC mean different things. A missing record should remain unknown, and a favourable map category is not proof that a particular house has no problems.
Available public records assembled for one property and reviewed by a person, with findings and coverage gaps emailed to the buyer. Sources and location resolution vary by topic and nation. This is screening, not a building inspection, formal valuation, legal opinion or official conveyancing search.
A consumer screening report does not provide the official local-authority responses, contaminated-land liability opinion or mining search that your conveyancer may request. It also cannot see cracks, roof defects or hidden construction. Ask your conveyancer and a suitable surveyor which further evidence is needed for the specific purchase; do not skip it because an online score looks reassuring.
| # | Service | Price | Entry tier | Coverage | Best for | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PostcodeCheck | Free area report; buyer report £3.99 one-off | Free postcode-area report advertised | Area information; confirm paid address coverage | Free area context and a lower-priced optional buyer report | Visit |
| 2 | HomeBuyerCheck | Premium £4.99; Premium+ £6.99 one-off | Free initial checks advertised | Confirm the address and each dataset's coverage | Lower-priced consumer reports and advertised ownership/company context | Visit |
| 3 | MyPropertyScan | £9.99 one-off; free preview | Free preview advertised | Check address support and topic-specific methodology | A consumer report with a published methodology and PDF offer | Visit |
| 4 | HouseCheckupOur product | £9.99 Lite / £24.99 Complete | Free topic checkers; address reports are paid | Coverage varies by topic and UK nation | One property's available screening records reviewed by a person | Try it |
| 5 | Move iQ / Sprift consumer reports | Key Facts 1 £14.99; Key Facts 2 £19.99; Full Spencer £24.99 | Public sample and contents information | Check the selected property and bundle | A named property or property-and-local-information bundle | Visit |
| 6 | Groundsure Homebuyers | From £92.60 + VAT | Published contents and sample information | Confirm product and address eligibility with the provider | An environmental-search product selected with your conveyancer | Visit |
HouseCheckup publishes this guide and sells one of the services discussed. Entries are ordered to explain different buying uses, not by an independently measured quality score. Prices and stated contents were checked against the linked public offers on 5 September 2026; we did not purchase every competing report or test its accuracy. Confirm the selected product, VAT, access limits and renewal terms before paying.
Free area report; buyer report £3.99 one-off
PostcodeCheck advertises a free area report and a £3.99 optional buyer report. The two products should not be treated as having identical detail, and we have not bought the paid output.
Premium £4.99; Premium+ £6.99 one-off
The public offer lists Premium at £4.99 and Premium+ at £6.99, with a £2 upgrade. It advertises ownership, company, tribunal and AI-assisted information. Those descriptions are not our independent validation of individual report findings.
£9.99 one-off; free preview
MyPropertyScan advertises a £9.99 full report with PDF. Its ground methodology describes BGS Engineering Geology at 1:1 million scale, a directional screen rather than a parcel-level GeoSure assessment or foundations inspection.
£9.99 Lite / £24.99 Complete
Available public records assembled for one property and reviewed by a person, with findings and coverage gaps emailed to the buyer. Sources and location resolution vary by topic and nation. This is screening, not a building inspection, formal valuation, legal opinion or official conveyancing search.
Key Facts 1 £14.99; Key Facts 2 £19.99; Full Spencer £24.99
The Sprift-hosted consumer purchase page lists Key Facts Property at £14.99, Key Facts Property & Local at £19.99 and Full Spencer at £24.99. These are different bundles, separate from Sprift's professional platform.
From £92.60 + VAT
Homebuyers is advertised from £92.60 plus VAT and lists contaminated land, flood, ground, radon and other environmental risks. Avista is a different product from £138.90 plus VAT and expressly includes CON29M; its scope should not be attributed to Homebuyers.
Choose the least costly service that actually answers your question, considering the stated scope and limitations. HouseCheckup may suit a buyer who wants available records assembled and reviewed for one property. Free information or another consumer report may be enough for a narrower task; formal searches and physical inspection remain separate.
Complete (£24.99) brings available source records, flags and questions into a human-checked report. Some sources describe a postcode or wider area; coverage and resolution are stated. Review the contents before paying, and take inspection and legal questions to your surveyor and conveyancer.
Try or search any UK postcode
£24.99 one-off · no subscription · Human-checked and emailed to you. See a sample report · Review report options and coverage