Surveyors inspect hundreds of homes; you will view perhaps a dozen. This step compresses their habits into a repeatable inspection you can perform in twenty minutes with your senses and your phone — not to replace the Phase 4 survey, but to avoid offering on homes a survey would have failed anyway.
The fabric, top to bottom
Outside: scan the roofline for sagging or slipped tiles, gutters for plant growth, walls for cracks — especially stepped cracks in brickwork wider than a pound coin's edge, which can indicate movement or subsidence and belong in a surveyor's hands. Inside: smell for damp (your nose beats your eyes), look for staining on ceilings and around windows, test window frames, open the loft hatch if you can, and check the boiler's age and service stickers. Run taps for pressure and hot water speed.
The life around the fabric
Test phone signal in every room. Check where the sun is and will be. Listen — really listen — for road, rail, flight paths and the neighbours' dog. Look at how neighbouring properties are kept. Confirm parking reality by counting spaces versus doors. None of this appears in any survey; all of it shapes daily life.
Leasehold extras
In a flat, inspect the common parts — their condition previews the management company's competence. Ask about the sinking fund (the reserve for major works): a healthy fund means big bills are pre-saved; none means the roof replacement arrives as a five-figure demand. Ask when the block last had major works and what is planned.
Your action list
Practical tips
- Print or open the viewing checklist worksheet and score every property the same way — comparable notes beat vivid memories.
- View the street on foot beyond the property: the 200 metres around the front door is part of what you are buying.
What can go wrong
- Fresh paint on one wall, strategic furniture and plug-in air fresheners are cheap ways to hide damp — be politely suspicious of the very recently decorated.
- Skipping the loft, the garden's far end or the garage 'to save time' skips exactly where problems hide.
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