How to research a property before viewing

The short answer

Before viewing, confirm the exact address and listing, compare the asking price with completed sales, establish tenure and lease details, open the EPC, check the relevant national flood service, inspect school information in context, review approximate reported-crime data, verify broadband at the address, search planning records, and test the real commute at the time you would travel.

A database check cannot replace a survey, valuation, conveyancing searches, title review, lender requirements, or local professional advice.

1. Match the exact property

• Compare house number or name, full postcode, property type, bedrooms, floorplan, agent, asking price, and listing images.
• Watch for flats sharing a building address, relisted homes, new-build plots, and portals that have copied an old listing.
• If the match remains ambiguous, stop. Do not borrow facts from a nearby property.

2. Compare completed sales, not asking prices

Use the HM Land Registry sold-price service for England and Wales. A useful comparable should be similar in location, property type, size, tenure, condition, and transaction date. The recorded price does not explain refurbishment, incentives, condition, or unusual transaction terms.

3. Establish tenure and lease questions

Do not assume a listing's tenure statement is complete. Ask the agent for the title number, lease length, service charge, reserve fund, planned major works, ground rent terms, building insurance arrangements, estate charges, and management information. Your conveyancer must verify the title and lease.

4. Open the EPC record

Search the official energy certificate service. Match the address, note the certificate date, current and potential rating, floor area, heating system, recommendations, and whether the certificate has expired. An EPC is an assessment model, not a building survey or energy-bill promise.

5. Use the correct national flood service

For England, start with the long-term flood-risk service. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have separate environmental authorities and maps. Modelled area risk does not establish insurability, historic internal flooding, drainage condition, or the result of property-specific searches.

6. Treat school evidence carefully

Check the relevant national inspectorate and local admissions authority. Record the rating body and inspection date. Distance and an inspection result do not guarantee admission: catchments, criteria, capacity, faith requirements, and application-year demand can change.

7. Put reported crime in context

Police.uk publishes approximate locations and recorded categories. Use a consistent radius and period, look at the category mix and trend, and compare like with like. Counts are not population-adjusted safety rates and omit unreported incidents.

8. Verify broadband and mobile coverage

Use Ofcom's checker and then confirm service with providers for the exact address. Modelled coverage, advertised speed, and availability at a neighbouring property are not a service guarantee.

9. Search local planning records

Search the local planning authority for the property and nearby proposals. Read decision notices and approved drawings, not only the application summary. Ask your conveyancer which planning, building-control, road, and infrastructure matters need formal searches or enquiries.

10. Test the commute you will actually make

Check door-to-door travel at the real weekday and time, including walking, interchange, parking, frequency, last services, disruption, and cost. A route planner snapshot is not a reliability guarantee.

Turn the evidence into viewing questions

• Which facts in the listing have documents behind them?
• What changed since the EPC, inspection, transaction, or dataset period?
• Which issue would affect mortgageability, insurance, resale, or monthly cost?
• What needs a surveyor, conveyancer, lender, insurer, tax adviser, school authority, or service provider to confirm?

Paste the listing into Nestor to organise an initial evidence review, then verify the important findings independently.