How a HouseCheckup report is built

Last updated:

A HouseCheckup report gathers the official public records for one address in England, Wales and Scotland and explains what they mean for someone about to make an offer. This page sets out where those records come from, how the score is worked out, what a person checks, and what a report does not do.

Where the data comes from

A report draws on 65+ official sources, grouped here by what they tell you. Every source is named on our data sources page.

Flood and water
Flood maps and recorded flood history from the UK flood authorities for each nation, plus flood defences nearby.
Ground
Ground stability and subsidence ratings from the UK geological survey, radon mapping, and the coal-mining risk areas.
Environment
Regulated and environmental site registers, air quality, coastal erosion where it is mapped, and major infrastructure projects.
Property and value
Official sold-price records, energy performance certificates, council tax charges and the tenure recorded at the last sale.
Planning and heritage
Planning and land designations, listed buildings and conservation areas.
The area
Police crime data, school registers and inspection outcomes, transport links, amenities, noise, deprivation and census statistics.

We cover England, Wales and Scotland. Coverage is not identical in each: some official sources publish for one nation and not another, so every report names the checks it could not run at your address rather than scoring them as a pass.

How a report is put together

  1. Your address is matched to the official records held for its location.
  2. The automated checks run. In a Complete report, the HouseCheckup IQ Score combines 6 weighted factors. A check that cannot be run at your address is named and left out of the score, never counted as a pass. The weights are published on our about page.
  3. A Complete report also carries a section of checks run by hand for your address: the registers that cannot be queried automatically, looked up and written up for that property.
  4. Human-checked and emailed to you, within 24 hours, usually faster.

What each report contains

Lite

  • Flood risk and flood history from the official national maps for your nation, plus flood defences nearby: the mapped flood zone and surface-water risk now and in the 2050s, every flood-warning area within 2 km and 5 km named, recorded flood events, the climate allowances to plan for and whether a policy here could be backed by the Flood Re scheme
  • Ground stability and subsidence screening, radon, and coal-mining area screening: clay shrink-swell for the 2030s and 2070s, every recorded landslide nearby, the radon band for the 1 km square, the coal-mining risk-area status, the ground level at the point, and the seven ground-hazard ratings for the surrounding area with the layer that drives the rating
  • Contaminated-land screening: historic landfill footprints with distance to the property, authorised landfill sites, recorded pollution incidents and environmental permits nearby (England; named as not checked elsewhere). Every former landfill within 1 km measured to its boundary, every permitted landfill within 2 km, all permits and discharges within 1 km de-duplicated by site, and the statutory register named as not read with the route to get it
  • Air quality, coastal erosion where mapped, and major infrastructure projects: modelled nitrogen dioxide, PM2.5 and PM10 at the address against the legal objectives, the shoreline plan and its policy for each epoch on a managed coast, and every nationally significant project within about 8 km with its stage
  • The checks that could not be run at your address, named rather than scored as a pass: section by section, with why and the official place to check each yourself
  • Your before-you-offer checklist: a numbered list of practical next steps built from this report's findings for this home
  • Sources consulted: every register and dataset the report asked for your address, with whether it answered, so you can see which gaps were outages

Complete

Everything in Lite, plus:

  • The 6-factor IQ Score out of 100 with its band, the per-factor breakdown behind it, and the coverage gaps identified rather than scored as a pass
  • The plain-English read on what stands out at this address: every red and amber flag pulled together and explained, with the top things to check on the cover
  • Value and market: the full recorded sale history for the street with tenure and new-build flags, local price context by property type, gross rental yield, what every council tax band costs here, and the tenure at the last sale with any published tribunal decisions
  • The home and energy: property facts, the whole energy certificate (every element with its star rating, running costs now and after the costed improvements), solar potential, broadband and mobile, every listed building and conservation area within 700 m, and the planning and land designations that shape what you can change
  • Area and lifestyle: a plain-English picture of the area, walkability with every everyday amenity counted, crime by category over 24 months, every school within 4 km with its grade, stations and stops with distances, road noise, neighbourhood deprivation, the census profile of who lives here, and food hygiene ratings nearby
  • Findings written for this address from the registers that only publish to people, not software. Each one names the register, where and when it was consulted
  • Corporate ownership and building records held against the address: dated, with the match basis and a link to each source record
  • The questions to put to your surveyor, written from what your address flagged and from the checks that could not be completed

For a side-by-side guide, see Lite vs Complete.

After you receive it

Reply to your report and we will explain any finding, show you the source, or dig further. Free, for as long as you need.

Frequently asked questions

No. A report brings together the public records for one address and explains them. It does not inspect the building, and it is not a valuation or legal advice. Commission a survey and your solicitor's searches as normal.
We cover England, Wales and Scotland. Coverage is not identical in each: some official sources publish for one nation and not another, so every report names the checks it could not run at your address rather than scoring them as a pass.
Human-checked and emailed to you, within 24 hours, usually faster. Complete reports also include a section of checks run by hand for your address.
Bought a report? Questions about it are answered free. Reply to the email your report arrives in and we will explain any finding, show you the underlying source, or dig further into anything it flagged, for the property in your report. It is not a survey, a valuation or legal advice, and we will tell you plainly when a question needs a surveyor or your solicitor.