Top 5 Things to Check Before Buying a House in the UK (2026)
The five checks that matter most before you offer on a UK property. Skip the rest if you have to, but do these.
Check this address before you make an offer
Free address report first: sale history, EPC rating, flood zone, crime, schools and planning nearby. Premium (£4.99) adds ground stability, radon, coal mining, listed and conservation status, company ownership and property tribunal history.
Free, then Premium£4.99
1. Flood risk verdict + history
Why: Surface water flooding is now the bigger insurance problem than river flooding. The Association of British Insurers reports rising claims year-on-year. A flood-risk property may still be insurable through Flood Re, but premiums and excesses change the affordability calculation.
How: Free: Environment Agency Flood Map for Planning. Postcode-level. Or run the free PostcodeCheck address report for the flood zone and live warnings at the address; the £3.99 Buyer Address Report adds historic flood records nearby and an insurance impact summary.
2. Coal mining + subsidence + radon
Why: Roughly 42% of English homes sit in former coal-mining areas requiring Coal Authority notification for any works. Shrink-swell clay subsidence is the leading subsidence cause and concentrates in London, the South East and East Anglia. Radon affects parts of the South West and Pennines. Each one affects insurance and resale.
How: Free: Coal Authority basic map, BGS GeoIndex, UKRadon postcode lookup. Three sites. Or the £4.99 PostcodeCheck Premium report, which checks the Coal Authority reporting area, the BGS ground stability bands and the radon band for the address in one go.
3. Planning applications within 500m
Why: A new estate, supermarket, mast or HMO conversion within walking distance can change the area materially within months of completion. Asking-stage disclosure rarely covers it. The local council's planning portal is public but slow to navigate.
How: Free: your local council planning portal (slow). Or the £3.99 Buyer Report, which lists recent applications within 500m of the address.
4. Crime trajectory (not just current rate)
Why: Most free tools show only the current crime rate. Direction matters more than absolute number. A medium-crime postcode improving fast is often a better long-term bet than a low-crime postcode worsening fast. The trend tells you which way the area is heading.
How: Free: Police.uk + free area report on postcodecheck.co.uk for current rates. The free address report shows crime by category with the year-on-year trend for the address.
5. School catchment probability + Ofsted
Why: Catchment areas are not legal boundaries; they are probabilistic, based on the previous year's admissions distance from each school. Two streets can sit on different sides of the same outstanding-rated school's catchment. The wrong side adds £30k-£70k to comparable house prices nearby.
How: Free: GOV.UK School Performance + your council admissions page (slow to cross-reference). Or the £3.99 Buyer Report, a likely-catchment estimate by distance for every nearby school, with Ofsted ratings.
Why these 5 first
They are the deal-breakers, not the negotiating chips. If your top 5 reveals a Zone 3 flood risk, a Coal Authority notification area with active mining nearby, a planning application for a 200-home estate behind, a crime trajectory worsening fast, or a catchment miss for the school you wanted, you walk. There is no point spending £400-£800 on a survey for a property you should never have offered on.
Everything else (drainage, chancel, planning history, lease terms, listed building status, conservation area) your solicitor handles at exchange.
If you have time for more
- Subsidence shrink-swell clay risk (BGS), important in London / South East
- Comparable sold prices (Land Registry, free)
- Investment forecast + rental yield if renting it out
- Stamp duty + mortgage affordability for the actual offer price
- Broadband + mobile signal at the address (Ofcom)
The free address report covers checks 1, 3 and 4; the £4.99 Premium report adds the official ground, radon and coal mining checks for number 2, plus ownership and tribunal history.
Check this address before you make an offer
Free address report first: sale history, EPC rating, flood zone, crime, schools and planning nearby. Premium (£4.99) adds ground stability, radon, coal mining, listed and conservation status, company ownership and property tribunal history.
Free, then Premium£4.99
Check the address free
Premium (£4.99) adds British Geological Survey ground stability and radon bands, the Coal Authority mining check, planning designations, company ownership and tribunal history.