What we check before we exchange

In England, a property sale becomes binding at exchange of contracts. Before that, either side can walk away. After it, both are committed, and pulling out is expensive. So the time to find problems is before exchange, not after.

That sounds obvious. In practice, a lot of risk in property comes from things nobody looked at properly, because the deal felt right and the paperwork could be sorted later. Our background is in managing risk, and the discipline is the same here: understand the downside before you commit to the upside.

Start with a survey

A survey tells you what the house is, rather than what it looks like on a sunny afternoon. Damp, roof condition, structural movement, drainage, the age of the wiring. Some of it is cosmetic. Some of it changes the numbers completely.

A survey on its own is only half the job. A report that says the roof needs attention does not tell you whether that means a few slipped tiles or a full replacement.

Turn findings into quotes

Every significant item the survey raises should become a figure. That means getting quotes from people who would actually do the work, not guessing from memory or a rule of thumb. A refurbishment budget built on real quotes holds up. One built on hope tends not to.

It also matters for straight dealing. If we reach a figure for a house, we want to be able to show the reasoning behind it, and that includes what the work will cost and why.

Searches

Local authority, water and drainage, and environmental searches cover the things you cannot see from the house itself: planning history, roads, flood risk, contaminated land, rights of way. Most come back clean. The ones that do not are exactly the ones you need to know about before you are committed.

Compliance

For homes that will be lived in for years, compliance and safety come first, and we do not negotiate them down. Before exchange, that means understanding where the house stands now and what it will take to bring it to standard:

• A gas safety check, and what any failures will cost to put right
• The electrical condition, and whether rewiring is likely
• The EPC rating, and the realistic cost of improving it
• Fire safety, particularly in houses that may be shared
• Anything a housing partner will require before a lease can start

An EPC rating is easy to read and easy to underestimate. Improving it can mean insulation, windows, heating or all three, and those costs belong in the figure before exchange, not after.

Walk the street at different times

No report replaces standing outside. A street can feel very different at eight in the morning, at school pick-up, on a Friday night and late on a weekday. Parking, noise, traffic, how lit it is after dark, whether the shops and bus stops are as close as the map suggests.

For homes meant for people to settle in, this matters more than almost anything on paper. A house close to transport, shops and services helps people stay. A house that feels unsafe after dark does not, however good the refurbishment.

Why it is worth the time

Due diligence costs time and some money, and most of the time it confirms what you already thought. That is the point. The few occasions it does not are the ones that would otherwise have become a problem for years: for the owner, for the housing partner and for the people living there.

The time to find problems is before you are committed, not after.