Viewing a house - things to watch out for

wantonnoodle

Have a good look out of the upstairs windows - cast your eye over neighbouring gardens - you can tell the sort of people around by how well tended / the amount of junk in the back garden - even if the fronts look reasonably neat.

Visit after dark to see what the street lighting in the area is like. We saw some lovely houses, but the streetlighting was poor, and as such, it would have been difficult to navigate the front gate and garden path, not to mention that if you were coming in alone after dark the poor light meant it didn't feel safe.

Check online if the house is in a conservation area - this can restrict what you can/can't do to the house (or at least can make it more bureaucratic) as it needs to be in keeping with the area.

If there are trees in the garden (particularly if they are casting a shadow or you're not sure you like their location), check with the council if there are any TPOs - as you can't remove trees with TPOs you would be stuck with them.

Google to see if there are any news stories/articles about developments in the area - while the local council can give you info about local planning permission/developments, things like redevelopments of an area/building, infrastructure works (HS2, road widening) may be in the local news but not necessarily at the planning stage. In our case, we had read a news article in the local media about plans for an office block being converted to flats with only 78 car parking spaces for 89 flats, so we used that to consider avoiding the nearby streets due to the additional parking impact we saw it having. Its since been to and passed by planning and they are just starting work on the conversion.

ReadingTim

You are looking at things from a renter's perspective - annoyances you have to tolerate because the landlord won't fix them as you want them. The joy of owning a property is that you don't have to ask someone else to do something like move a plug - you can do it yourself.

Therefore, everything except the mobile phone signal and the council tax band you can fix yourself, and even those two aren't impossible with a bit of time, and provided you like the property. You want to be looking at the things you can't fix - mainly, the location. But even that can change, for better (regeneration, gentrification etc) or for worse (housing estate being built on the open fields the property formerly backed on to).

For a first viewing, I don't think your checklist needs to be any more complicated than 'do I want to live here and can I afford it if I do?' Anything more is needless complication, and boring detail.

moneyistooshorttomention

Check to see if windows are open or closed. On viewing current house all the windows were open - in hindsight that meant vendor was trying to hide/minimise it was a smokers house. The second I came to move in (and the windows were duly shut) = it reeked and took a lot of doing to get rid of that.

If it's the vendor themselves showing you it - watch for being told unwarranted odd little tales of how things used to be in the area (probably indicates a neighbour that is hoping/intending they will stay that way) or "careful wording" in the answer to any questions you make to them (that you could interpret the way you want - but, on reflection, it could be interpreted the way they want).

If the vendor is telling you anything about boundary features belonging to the house = they do and you may be being told because the neighbour has been arguing about it.

Clairabella

If the house is not detached I would ask how much the neighbours can be heard. A friend, recently moved, has to listen to the most appalling language, shouting and screaming children and loud music.

Jenniefour

Re: looking up council tax. If there have been significant alterations to the property whilst the vendor has lived there which affect council tax valuations/bands (for example, extension, loft conversion) then the council tax will go up when you move in, the vendor will be paying the banding it was on when they bought it.

Crashy_Time

Watch out that it is not over-priced, I hear this is a common problem.

Lauralou79

When I went viewing houses, I forgot half the sensible things to look out for or ask. I'll be honest I loved our house from the pictures, then on viewing. Came out forgetting half of what we Wanted to ask but I knew I loved it.
We didn't get chance to second view properties here go fast in certain price brackets. It was on second viewing and moving in we noticed things like fewer plug sockets or types of lights switches. Or uneven plaster etc. To be honest not much finer detail that you can change would have put me off!