Due Diligence

Posiex

Morning.

I have seen a number of posts about issues owners are having with their homes being replied with "should have carried out your due diligence". I'm a FTB and I'm doing all I can think of to make sure I don't end up buying a lemon or paying more than the house is worth.

Scouting the area including walking up to the local shops, around the parks, around the streets closest to the house to see if there are anti-social or scruffy neighbours in ear/eye shot. I've visited a few times at weekends and at night.

Hunting Google maps for local amenities

Will get a thorough private survey on any house I have an offer accepted on to show up any issues.

Will try and get chatty with the neighbours.

Is there anything you wish you had checked before buying? Should I be checking anything else?

Thanks

spadoosh

On the list of things to be concerned about its quite low down but i regret not checking the orientation of the house. Theres areas of garden that can only grow grass and moss and it pretty much makes the idea of solar panels a non starter.

davidmcn

Check the council's planning portal for anything in the pipeline (or already approved).

Community council minutes / local news for developments not yet approved, threatened closure of local facilities, current crime concerns etc.

Davesnave

Double check the boundary as shown on the title plan matches what is seen in the real world. A solicitor usually never visits the property, so they should ask you to confirm the plan is correct, but it's not just a formality.

Similarly, if there are claimed rights of way or easements over the property, or over someone else's property, carefully assess the full implications of them.

Our property had been sold several times since the title docs and plan were drawn-up and both had considerable inaccuracies which no one else had picked up. Because we did, they were rectified at the insistence of our solicitor at the seller's expense. A clause, which was a hindrance and benefited no one, was also removed with the full agreement of a neighbour.

hazyjo

Google the road name and town in quotes to search for exact (eg "22 Church Road" [and just "Church Road"] "Chingford" (and/or "E4")), the vendors' names, and searches including words that would put you off like 'stabbed' 'unsafe' 'gangs' etc. Just lots of variations really. There's the police site, but I don't find that hugely helpful other than to maybe recognise where there is regular trouble or groups hang out.


Look for alleyways nearby on google maps, ask in the local corner shop and pub, and best of all join every local FB group going. If something is happening, or planned, or if they want to moan about anything it will be mentioned on at least one of them.

Niv

I cant say there was anything additional I wish I had checked before buying as i knew the areas pretty well where i bought my last two homes. But what I would say is if you have ample on street parking - think ahead 15years. When I moved into my last place parking outside my home was easy, however as neighbours had children who grew up it ended up that parking became a nightmare. I lived in a terrace which had parking around the back for whoever (nothing allocated), one house had 2 kids, once they got cars and boyfriends we ended up with up to 7 vehicles for that one house (parents 1 each, 2 kids 1 each, 2 boyfriends 1 each and the home owner also had a van for work!).

Gstrang81

I wish we'd checked the types of owners around us.

When we bought our first flat, we discovered the property above us was a LA flat. If I'd known this before we bought, we wouldn't have bought it! Their bathroom flooded ours several times and emergency plumbers wouldn't come to our property because of the LA connection and on one occasion, we were left with no electricity in the bathroom until the council inspector could come out to theirs. The property across from us was a private let with various problem tenants (one was raided by the drug squad!) which ultimately led to us selling our house and moving elsewhere!

Obviously these problems could also happen with a private owner but it really made me do my homework when looking at a new house.

RelievedSheff

We wished we had paid closer attention to the neighbouring properties at our old house. It was an ex local authority house on a good sized south facing plot but a lot of the surrounding properties were still local authority and some of the tenants were not as pleasant as you might have liked.

We moved into a new build this time so it was different again and I have to admit that we were disappointed to find that an investor had bought the three houses opposite ours to rent out. As it happens there has not been a problem with the tenants and I don't think there will be as the rents are set at a rate that is unlikely to attract troublesome types.

Marvel1

Get the boiler on and check each radiator.

Run the shower/bath/sink - checking for leaks.

Check if can open and close the windows.

Cakeguts

Always look over the back fence at the bottom of the garden.



Visit the area at different times of the week. You need to know if it is a rat run for cars which won't show up at weekends. Check flight paths.

Bossypants

Look up the address on Google Maps and zoom in as close as you can on the satellite view. Scrutinise the area immediately around your house for things which may not be obvious from the road or garden, especially types of property use. Things to look out for especially are railway lines, caravan parks and small business which may make more than average noise, like garages.