Published by HouseCheckup

What should you check before offering on a house?

Last updated: 2026-09-05

Quick answer

Confirm the exact property, what is included and your budget. Record viewing concerns, compare relevant completed sales, review available flood and energy records, and ask about tenure and alterations. Give unresolved legal questions to a conveyancer and inspection questions to a qualified surveyor. Use a written checklist so that missing evidence stays visible.

Turn the viewing into a record

Write down the address, flat number, date and who supplied each answer. Take photographs with permission and note what you could not see. Ask about inclusions, recent works and documents supporting the seller's answers.

Revisit at a time that helps you assess travel, noise, light and parking. Look at completed sales as context, accounting for date, condition and differences in the property; an area average is not a valuation of this home.

Use the twelve pre-offer checks Look up sold-price records

Separate records from conclusions

Check that the EPC belongs to the home. Use the correct nation's flood service and ask separately about previous flooding and insurance terms. Regional ground or radon bands are screening information; they do not establish what is happening inside a building.

For proposed work, ask the council and conveyancer about the precise property, permissions and restrictions. An empty map result is not permission. Request tenure documents and relevant lease or management information rather than relying on a listing description.

Screen conservation area records Understand flood evidence

Assign the remaining work before committing

Make a short table: question, document needed, person responsible and next step. Ask the conveyancer which searches and title enquiries are needed and the surveyor which inspection scope is appropriate. Keep fees and potential follow-up investigations within your budget.

For an ordinary purchase in England and Wales, exchange is the point when the offer becomes legally binding. Auctions and other agreements can have different commitments. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different processes; get advice on the actual transaction before committing.

Questions for your surveyor Questions about searches

How this guide was prepared

A buyer decision guide published by HouseCheckup, which sells desk reports. We distinguish source records, physical inspection and legal advice using the linked official guidance. Product descriptions refer to our current delivered scope. There is no measured savings or investment-return promise.

Verdict

The useful outcome is a clear list of evidence and unresolved questions, with someone responsible for each. A desk report can help organise available records, but it is one input into that process.

Go straight to the report

Review the report for your chosen home

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

Frequently asked questions

Discuss timing and requirements with your conveyancer for this transaction. Start with available documents and targeted questions instead of assuming every purchase needs identical checks at the same stage.

Record that as a gap and check coverage and matching. No returned record does not establish the absence of a hazard, restriction or defect.