House viewing checklist for those things you wish you would have checked?

[Stresssy]

I’m viewing a property on Wednesday, this is the 2nd viewing and I’m wondering if anyone has any ideas on what I should be looking for? Did you purchase a house recently and think, “I wish I would have checked that” ? My checklist starts with check the toilets flush 😆 and then my mind goes blank! I’m going in to this on Wednesday and leaving my feelings on the doorstep as I walk in. 🤭 I really feel like this house is the one ☺️

Single most important thing I checked was flooding risk. One of the properties I viewed but rejected has since flooded.

Check all the radiators work...lesson learned for me 😞

https://www.comparemymove.com/advice/buying-a-home/house-viewing-checklist

The windows. We knew we would need a new kitchen and budgeted as such but we thought we had a few years before the windows would need replacing. After one winter it was apparent that they were a problem, condensation and mould in the seals. The signs were there if we’d have paid enough attention.

We’ve just had a quote to get them replaced and it’s eye watering.

Talk to the neighbours, find out who they are.

I didn't have a second viewing because my vendor was so nervous about Covid.

I think it is wrong you can only find out everything by asking the explicit question. I didn't ask the right questions, definitely caveat emptor for me.

If I had had a second viewing I would have:-

looked closely at the kitchen cupboards/worktop. I thought they were wood, they aren't, MDF with plastic.

checked that the vendor had keys for all the windows, and they all opened/closed OK. I assumed she had keys and moved into this bungalow thinking I'd find them somewhere on completion - apparently she 'wasn't given them' when she bought the place. Cost me £300 getting all the handles changed.

turned on each tap, bathroom sink and bath
run the shower
flushed the toilet

asked how old the boiler was, and whether it was serviced regularly. I would ask for it to be switched on so I could see it working.

asked how old the smoke alarm/heat detectors were, and ask to see them working.

asked to see the white goods being left work - dishwasher, fridge freezer etc. I would have asked for instruction booklets.

asked if the vendor knew of any woodworm, whether they had done any work to the floors, and what the floors were made of - wooden floorboards/chipboard. All the floors here were rotten, not picked up by my L3 survey because of fitted carpets/heavy furniture. £15K to replace all floors.

Good luck with the viewing, I hope it meets your expectations.

Ask whether both gas and electricity are installed if you are planning to use both. The survey on one house I bought stated "No obvious defect to the gas supply". On moving in, with a gas cooker, I found out there was no gas. It had been disconnected and I had to pay to get new pipes laid from the street as they wouldn't reconnect old pipes. Don't make any assumptions about the house. If it isn't on the estate agents description or you haven't seen it yourself, it isn't there.
Again, down to experience, I'd check the back garden isn't knee deep in dog poo. I had to returf one garden, it was so disgusting I couldn't let the children out there.

i wish I had checked the windows open.

the built in appliances work. My fridge freezer didn’t work - I moved mid Covid in July! Took three weeks to get a replacement fridge. It was a long three weeks!

the broadband.

the neighbours - discovered a dispute after I moved on that wasn’t declared. I now hide from said awful neighbours!

Neighbours... Check them out..Mine are horrible.. I wish I knew it before..

Same

As another pp said. Check you have a gas supply. Ours had the meter inside (next to the electric meter) but they had taken away the pipework so we had to pay for pipes to be laid then a connection fee. Took months to do.

I’d be expecting the surveyor to check whether the toilets flushed etc. You’re not the expert here. Pay an expert to do this sort of thing. Use the second viewing to ask questions and decide whether you really like the house and area, not flush toilets.

Flood risk definitely. Does it have a bath? Check when the boiler was serviced last. Drive past at different time of the day. Check out the neighbours. Check water pressure, taps work, flush toilets. Look at the general state of things. Does the house look well cared for? Look for damp/mould etc. do the extractor fans work in the bathrooms? If there is a gas fire when was it last serviced? How old are the white goods?
Is the garden overlooked and what is the state of fences? Where are the boundaries and who owns what?
Also how often has the house changed hands? If owners only seem to stay a couple of years there is a clue there. Do the neighbours have barking dogs / unruly children/ parties/a hot tub?

You can sue the previous owners for that. They are legally obliged to declare disputes.

Flood risk, I check this myself online before I'd even view. Also flight paths.

My current house, I wish I'd paid more attention to a tree in the garden quite close to the house. It had been pollarded when I viewed so didn't look very big at all. By the time I moved in it had regrown considerably and it was clearly huge. Its taken me years of careful management and reduction to work towards removing it without risking subsidence or heave.

Agree about trees. Trees, flooding and neighbours have caused massive issues for us.

Drive past at school run time, even if you think it's not near enough to be a problem
Open deliveroo etc while you're there
Broadband
Flick every light switch
If your town does a half marathon etc worth checking the routes, I can't leave my street by car twice a year which I didn't realize until on the way to an appointment
Go to the local pub, even if you don't drink it gives a good idea of the community
Try and scope out the neighbors, we realized ours were lovely before we moved in just by saying hi after a viewing while they were washing the car

Seconded for the taps. I bought a house ( I was younger and less picky) where no water came out of the shower when turned on, we discovered that this was because it wasn’t connected to the mains, there was no pipe work to it, nothing. It was the show house ( in more senses than one).

I checked the taps on a house we were looking at in France, and it came away in my hand. Luckily I managed to jam it back on before politely saying it wasn’t quite what we were looking for.

Wwhen we are selling, we always have a folder with all the receipts, guarantees , service records and instruction books. Might be worth asking if your vendor can assemble these before you visit.

Look at the number and location of sockets. We had to install dozens.

Check boundaries and access, a house behind my garden has a gate installed from their garden to the alley at the back of my garden but they don't have legal right of access to the alley. Every owner who has moved in their assumed they did and then I have to tell them they don't and the alley is owned by mine and only I and my next door neighbour have legal access rights.

Whilst I am friendly enough to let them use it occasionally, one set of previous owners decided to start dumping rubbish in it so I no longer allow it unless they need to use the alley to maintain the pebbledash on the house

We have been through this many times. We have a checklist now, which we fill in on a first viewing. If the owners are talking at you all the time, you won't notice stuff, so at the end, ask them if you can go back round for another look on your own, then you can do your checklist.
It's on a second viewing where we would try all taps, windows, locks, toilets, look in cupboards, ask them to put heating on etc, asking first of course. If they refused then we'd leave.
Also ask for proof of boiler service at least, should be done annually, as with gas fires etc.
We have just insisted our sellers have their air source heat pump serviced, as they had not had it done in the three years they have had it. They lied on viewing and said it had been done last year, but mysteriously could not provide any documentation to prove this. They had already voided the extended warranty by not having it done annually, which was very disappointing to lose the 7 yr warranty. By having it serviced now at least we will have some peace of mind that it is working as it should (or not - still waiting for the result).

That’s interesting - where I live owners never do viewings - it’s always estate agents.

advantages and disadvantages. You get to have a good poke around and don’t have to be polite and compliment decor. But you don’t see the whites of their eyes!

I once came back to my house after a family with young kids had viewed. My cat was tucked up in my bed under the covers and the blinds and curtains had been closed😂.

Check if the heating works- ours didn't. Also open all the windows- not all of ours open! If there's intregated appliances- check if they work. Our dishwasher had to be replaced straight away. Also check for cleanliness and prepare yourself, wish I had paid more notice as when we moved in the place was absolutely filthy and I was really regretting things in the moment. Also have a look out for neighbors, friendly or not etc.

And yes your surveyor should pick up these things but ours didnt! Really regretted the move for the first few months in winter when most of the downstairs heating didn't work.. also check all the lights work. In one of the bedrooms the main light doesn't switch on. The previous owners emailed me to send on their post and I absolutely ignored it as felt they were really sneaky and dishonest with us. And the fact the place was filthy. Much better now though it's been almost a year :)

What happened to us after purchase...

Discovered a damp patch where the house cuts into a raised grass mound area. This patch was covered by a tall fitted book case when we viewed the house on 3 separate occasions. It was never highlighted when we asked about damp and a structural engineer did not identify this either.

Discovered all the downstairs tv units, display cabinets and cupboards were in fact 'fitted' and came as part of the house. Imagine the shock of realising there is nowhere to put my own furniture until all the fitted units were ripped out and walls re plastered.

The integrated freezer was 'working' but frosting over so much that the ice was filling the draws and freezing them shut on a weekly basis even on the lowest setting. Needed to be replaced.

Electrical wiring - half the house wasn't even earthed 😬