Before you offer · Last reviewed · HouseCheckup editorial team
The pre-offer property check: twelve things to know before you offer on a house
A pre-offer property check is a desk check of what the official records say about a home and its surroundings before you commit: flood and ground risk, tenure, sold prices, the energy certificate, planning and the area. Ten of the twelve have a postcode tool on this site; the Complete report has a section for each of the twelve and names any it could not run; the building and the legal title still need a survey and your conveyancer.
Start with the address you have in mind
Enter a postcode or address in England, Wales and Scotland. One report, one address, one price — £9.99 Lite or £24.99 Complete, no subscription.
Try or search any UK postcode
The twelve checks, and where each one is answered
Each row is one question a buyer should settle before offering. On screen now is a postcode tool on this site with no signup. Lite and Complete are the two report tiers; the Complete column names the section that answers the question, taken from the report's own contents. Only a survey or search is what no desk report can replace.
| Check | On screen now | Lite | Complete | Only a survey or search |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Confirm the exact home and what is included Flat number, postcode, the boundary being marketed, fixtures. A postcode result can describe a neighbour. | Postcode house check | — | Property facts: dwelling type, built form, construction age band, floor area, reference numbers | The agent and your conveyancer confirm the boundary and inclusions |
2. Test the asking price against sold evidence Asking prices are not completed sales. Compare like with like on date, size, tenure and condition. | Should I offer? price check | — | Price history: every recorded sale on the street with tenure and new-build flags, plus local price context by property type | A RICS valuation or the lender's valuation |
3. Flood risk and flood history Zones, surface water, recorded floods and defences decide insurability and what to ask on the TA6. | Flood risk checker | Yes | Everything in Lite | An insurer's quote for the exact address; the seller's own flooding history |
4. Ground stability and subsidence Shrink-swell clay, landslides and ground hazards are the usual cause of movement. | Subsidence risk checker | Yes | Everything in Lite, plus the surveyor questions written from the ground flags | A Level 2 or 3 survey or a structural engineer, who diagnoses one building |
5. Radon and coal mining Both are area screens with a formal follow-up: a radon test, a CON29M mining search. | Radon check | Yes | Everything in Lite | A radon test kit; an official coal mining report |
6. Contaminated land, landfill and permits Former landfill under or near the plot, pollution incidents and permitted sites (England). | Landfill check | Yes | Everything in Lite | An environmental search and the council's Part 2A register, via your conveyancer |
7. Tenure and the lease Leasehold changes the whole purchase: years left, ground rent, service charge. | Freehold or leasehold checker | — | Tenure at the last sale, the street pattern, published tribunal decisions and the lease-pack checklist | The title register (£7 from HM Land Registry) and the lease itself, read by your conveyancer |
8. Energy rating and running costs The certificate's band, its costed improvements and the construction age it records. | EPC checker | — | The whole energy certificate: every rated element, costs now and after improvements, solar potential, broadband and mobile | Actual bills from the seller |
9. Planning, heritage and what you can change Conservation areas, listing, Article 4 directions, green belt and the local plan shape any work. | Conservation area checker | — | Heritage and every planning and land designation near the point, from listed buildings to the brownfield register | The council's planning history and a conversation with the planning officer |
10. Crime, schools, noise and the area The things a viewing at 2pm on a Saturday will not show you. | Crime check | — | 24 months of crime by category, every school within 4 km with its grade, transport, road noise, deprivation and the census profile | Visits at different times of day |
11. Council tax and the cost of owning it Band, yearly charge and the neighbours' band mix, alongside the energy costs above. | Council tax lookup | — | What every band costs here per year and month, and the most common band in the small area around it | Service-charge accounts and planned works, from the seller |
12. The questions for your surveyor and conveyancer Turn every flag into a question for the person who can answer it. | Survey levels and costs | Checklist | What stands out — every red and amber flag explained — and a numbered brief of questions for your surveyor | The survey and the searches themselves |
Sections print where the address has usable data; a check that could not be run is named rather than scored as a pass. Coverage differs by nation. Emailed to you as a PDF within 24 hours, usually faster.
What the Complete report checks for this address
Get the findings for this address — £24.99One-off · no subscription · Human-checked and emailed to you · see an illustrative sample
- The hazard screen for the address: flood, ground stability, radon and coal mining, with every check that could not be run named rather than scored as a pass
- Price history, tenure where a sale records it, the EPC and running costs, council tax
- Heritage, planning and land designations, crime, schools, noise and the area picture
- What stands out at this address — the red and amber flags pulled together and explained, and the questions to put to your surveyor, written from what this address flagged
Not a physical survey, formal valuation or your solicitor's searches; the report names every check it could not run.
What the report contains
Lite is the hazard-screening part of the document. Complete is the whole document, in the order it prints. Open the contents to see every section and which tier carries it.
Full contents — the 33 sections of a Complete report
See an illustrative sampleIn the order they print. Sections appear where usable data exists for the address. Coverage varies by nation and source; the report names every check it could not run. Lite prints the 8 hazard-screening and closing sections marked Lite + Complete; the rest are Complete only.
- 1.HouseCheckup IQ ScoreThe verdictThe score out of 100, its band and what drove it
- 2.What stands outThe verdictEvery red and amber flag, explained in plain English
- 3.Flood riskSafety & environmentLite + CompleteMapped zone, surface water now and 2050s, named warning areas, recorded events, climate allowances, Flood Re
- 4.Flood defences nearbySafety & environmentLite + CompleteEvery asset within about 1.5 km with condition, maintainer and last inspection
- 5.Ground & subsidenceSafety & environmentLite + CompleteCoal, clay shrink-swell to the 2070s, landslide records, radon band and ground level
- 6.Ground hazards across this areaSafety & environmentLite + CompleteSix natural hazards plus non-coal mining, with distance to the nearest higher-rated cell
- 7.Contaminated land, landfill & environmental permitsSafety & environmentLite + CompleteFormer landfill within 1 km to its boundary, permitted landfill within 2 km, incidents, permits de-duplicated by site
- 8.Air qualitySafety & environmentLite + CompleteNitrogen dioxide, PM2.5 and PM10 against the legal objectives
Is the asking price defensible? Check it now
Enter the address and the asking price. The tool compares it with recorded sales of comparable homes nearby and says whether it sits above, within or below the local sold-price evidence, as a range with the reasoning shown. It is not a valuation and cannot see condition, renovations or lease terms, so it says so.
What can I check in two minutes, and what needs the report?
The postcode tools answer one question each, on screen, at postcode-area level: the flood zone and warning areas, the ground and coal screen, the radon band, the tenure recorded on sales at the postcode, the energy certificates lodged there, crime for the latest published month. That is enough to decide whether a property deserves a viewing. The report does the matching that the tools do not: it anchors every record to one address, reads the whole energy certificate and the full sale history, adds the planning and area sections that have no postcode tool, and prints what it could not check in England, Wales and Scotland — so silence is never read as a clean result.
How do I turn a 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 — under floors, behind fitted units, the loft. Ask about inclusions, recent works and the documents behind the seller's answers. Revisit at a time that lets you judge travel, noise, light and parking. Then compare completed sales as context, accounting for date, condition and the differences between homes: an area average is not a valuation of this one. The viewing checklist is built for this.
How do I keep records separate from conclusions?
Check that the energy certificate belongs to the home and read its date. 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 your conveyancer about the precise property, permissions and restrictions — an empty map result is not permission. Request tenure documents and the lease or management information rather than relying on a listing description; the freehold or leasehold checker shows the street pattern, and only the title register from HM Land Registry confirms one title.
Is a report worth buying before I offer?
It can be, if there is a real information gap. Start with the documents you already hold and the free sources above; if one record answers your question, get it directly. A report earns its price when you want the records for one address collected, matched and explained together before you commit a solicitor's time — and when you want the gaps named. It does not inspect the house, value it, guarantee insurance or act as your conveyancer. Keep a budget for the next investigation: a map flag may lead to professional advice, source documents or testing, and the report price is not the cost of complete due diligence. Read the illustrative sample and the Lite vs Complete comparison before choosing.
When does the offer become binding, and what comes after it?
In England and Wales an offer is not binding until exchange of contracts, which is why the searches and survey happen after acceptance: your conveyancer orders the legal and environmental searches the home and your lender require, and a surveyor inspects the building. Read what a pre-offer check covers versus conveyancing searches and the searches you need. In Scotland offers go through a solicitor, often against a closing date, and an accepted offer moves quickly towards a binding contract, so the checks belong before you note interest — see the Home Report guide. Auctions and other agreements have their own commitments; get advice on the actual transaction before committing.
Assign the remaining work before you commit
Make a short table: question, document needed, person responsible, next step. Ask the conveyancer which searches and title enquiries are needed and the surveyor which inspection scope is appropriate — the survey guide covers the levels and a cost calculator. The useful outcome of a pre-offer check is a clear list of evidence and unresolved questions, with someone responsible for each. A desk report helps organise the available records; it is one input into that list, not the list itself.
Run the twelve checks on one address
Enter the postcode or address. Lite (£9.99) is the hazard screen; Complete (£24.99) is the full document — sold prices and tenure, the energy certificate, planning, the area and the questions for your surveyor. Every report names the checks it could not run.
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