FAQ
The best way to research a flat before you offer.
Honest answers on lease length, marriage value, Section 20, building safety and what Flatscope does and does not do. Flatscope is research software for UK flat buyers. It reads a Rightmove listing and the public record, then gives you a sourced verdict before you offer.
Flatscope vs ChatGPT, the portals and a surveyor
Four common ways to research a UK flat before you offer, compared fairly. Flatscope is sourced, lease-aware desk research that reads the public record before you spend on a survey. It does not replace a RICS surveyor, who inspects the physical building, and it does not replace your solicitor. ChatGPT is free and instant but cannot cite UK registers for a specific address. The portals show the listing and some sold prices but do no analysis. A surveyor is the gold standard for the building itself and costs accordingly. Flatscope currently supports Rightmove listings in England and Wales only, with Zoopla and OnTheMarket in progress. It is informational software, not regulated legal or financial advice.
| What you get | Flatscope | ChatGPT alone | Rightmove or Zoopla | RICS surveyor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sourced lease, Section 20 and safety check | Yes. Reads lease length and flags the 80-year mark where marriage value has historically applied, the established position now being reformed, so confirm the current rule with your solicitor. Surfaces Section 20 major-works signals, and references the Building Safety Act 2022 and EWS1 in general terms. Every figure traced to a cited public record. | Partial and unreliable. It can explain what a lease or Section 20 is in general, but it has no live access to this flat's lease term, the block's works history or its safety status, and may state figures it cannot source. | No. A listing shows the tenure and sometimes the lease years and service charge as the agent typed them, with no check, no Section 20 history and no safety status. | Partial, from a different angle. A RICS surveyor inspects the physical building and can flag visible defects and some safety concerns, but lease terms, Section 20 consultation and title are usually for your solicitor, not the survey. |
| Sold-price comparables | Yes. Pulls prior sales at the exact unit plus same-building and same-street comparables from HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, and sets the asking price against the area context. | Weak. It may recall rough area prices from training data that can be out of date, and cannot reliably pull verified Land Registry figures for a specific address. | Partial. The portals show some sold-price history for a street, which is useful, but they do not work it into a value judgement for the flat you are looking at. | Sometimes. A valuation survey gives a professional market value, though a standard homebuyer survey is about the building's condition rather than a comparables study. |
| Hallucination risk | Low by design. One model drafts the verdict, a separate model fact-checks every figure against its cited source in a hard-mode pass. Any figure that cannot be traced to a source is flagged, never invented. | Higher. A general assistant can state confident numbers with no source, and there is no second pass checking each figure against a register before you read it. | Low for the raw fields, since the portal shows what the agent entered, but those fields are unverified and can simply be wrong or stale. | Low. A qualified human professional stands behind the report, with professional accountability, though findings still reflect what was visible on the day. |
| Cost | First report free. Planned paid tiers after launch are £9.99 a month for Solo and £14.99 a month for Together, and both are free during early access. | Free, or a low monthly subscription for the paid tier. A genuine advantage of using a general assistant. | Free to browse listings and sold prices. | Several hundred pounds and up. A RICS homebuyer survey is commonly around £600 or more depending on the property and the level chosen. |
| Speed | A few minutes per listing, from pasting the link to a finished web report plus a five-page PDF or DOCX. | Instant, which is its strength, but answers are unsourced and tied to whatever you remember to ask. | Instant to view the listing, though you do the comparison and the digging yourself across multiple tabs. | Days to weeks. You book the inspection, it happens on site, then you wait for the written report. |
| What it cannot do | Cannot inspect the physical building, cannot give regulated legal or financial advice, and currently covers Rightmove listings in England and Wales only. You still need a solicitor and a RICS surveyor before you commit. | Cannot cite UK public registers for a specific address, cannot compare a shortlist on consistent metrics over time, and cannot inspect the building or give regulated advice. | Does no analysis, no sourced verdict and no cross-listing comparison, and cannot tell you whether the asking price or lease is reasonable. | Does not research the wider deal for you. The lease terms, title and conveyancing sit with your solicitor, and a survey is usually arranged later, after you have already chosen which flat to pursue. |
Buying a flat
How do I research a flat before making an offer?
Start with the things you can check from public records before you spend money. Look at HM Land Registry sold prices for the building and street, the EPC rating, the lease length and ground rent, the service charge, the council tax band, flood risk, and any building-safety or cladding history. Then line that up against the asking price and what similar flats nearby actually sold for. Flatscope does this whole pass for you from a single Rightmove link, pulling the public records into one report with a clear verdict, a score from 18 to 88, and a five-page PDF you can keep.
How do I check the lease length before buying a flat?
Ask the estate agent for the number of years remaining on the lease, then confirm it against the official register by buying the title from HM Land Registry for a few pounds, because agents sometimes quote the original term rather than the years left today. Anything under about 90 years deserves attention, and under 80 years it gets materially more expensive to extend, so factor that into your offer. Your solicitor will pull and review the lease in full before exchange. Flatscope reads the listing, flags the lease length, and scores it on a dedicated 0 to 20 Lease axis so you spot a short lease before you fall in love with the flat.
What is the 80-year lease problem?
Once a lease drops below 80 years it usually becomes more expensive to extend, because of an extra cost called marriage value that the freeholder can claim on a statutory extension. That rule comes from the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 and is being reformed by the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, so the current position is worth confirming with a solicitor. The practical takeaway is that a flat at 82 or 83 years is on a clock, and the cost to extend rises as it falls past 80. Flatscope flags any lease near or under that threshold and explains what it means for your offer, while leaving the binding valuation to your solicitor.
What is marriage value on a leasehold flat?
Marriage value is the extra amount a freeholder can claim when you extend a lease that has fallen below 80 years, reflecting the jump in the flat's value once the lease is made long again. The established position is that it is payable below 80 years under the 1993 Act, and it is roughly split between you and the freeholder. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 is reforming this area and not all valuation provisions were in force in early 2026, so confirm the current rule with a solicitor before you rely on a figure. Flatscope warns you when a lease is near or under 80 years so the risk is on your radar early, and your solicitor confirms the exact sum.
What is a Section 20 notice?
A Section 20 notice is the formal consultation a landlord or freeholder must give leaseholders before carrying out major works or signing a long-term contract that will cost you above a set amount. Under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 they must consult before any single leaseholder pays more than £250 for works, or more than £100 a year under a long-term agreement running over 12 months. If you receive one, it often signals a large bill coming, for example a new roof or lift, so read it carefully and ask the seller about any planned or recent works. Flatscope highlights service-charge and building-cost signals in the Costs part of the report so a looming major-works bill is less likely to surprise you.
Is a high service charge a red flag?
A high service charge is not automatically bad, because a building with a lift, concierge, communal heating, or extensive grounds genuinely costs more to run. It becomes a red flag when the charge is high relative to what you get, when it has risen sharply year on year, or when a major-works bill or building-safety remediation is looming. Always ask for the last three years of service-charge accounts and any reserve-fund balance before you offer. Flatscope scores running costs on a 0 to 20 Costs axis and surfaces the charge alongside ground rent and council tax so you can judge whether it is reasonable for the building.
Should I get a survey on a leasehold flat?
Yes. A flat being leasehold does not remove the need for a survey, because you still need to know the condition of your own unit and you have an interest in the wider building. Most buyers use a RICS Level 2 HomeBuyer survey for a modern flat in good order, or a Level 3 Building Survey for an older, altered, or visibly problematic property. A survey is a separate step from the legal lease review your solicitor does, and you want both before you exchange. Flatscope is a desk-based research and screening layer that helps you decide which flats are worth a paid survey, and it never replaces the surveyor's visit or the solicitor's legal work.
What questions should I ask when viewing a flat?
Ask how many years are left on the lease, what the ground rent and service charge are, and whether any major works or building-safety remediation are planned or recently billed. Ask why the seller is moving, how long it has been on the market, whether there is cladding or an EWS1 form for the building, and what the broadband and mobile coverage are like. Check the direction the flat faces, noise, damp, and whether parking or storage are included. Flatscope answers many of these from public records before you even view, and the report ends with the specific things still worth asking the agent or seller for this particular flat.
What does the EPC rating mean for a flat?
The Energy Performance Certificate rates a property from A, the most efficient, down to G, the least, and it must by law be available when a home is marketed for sale. A lower band such as E, F, or G usually means higher heating bills and may point to future upgrade costs, while flats are often constrained in what they can improve because of communal walls and windows. An EPC is valid for 10 years, so check the date as well as the band. Flatscope reads the gov.uk EPC register, scores energy on a 0 to 20 Energy axis, and flags a poor rating so the running cost is part of your decision.
How do I check if a flat has cladding or building-safety problems?
For mid-rise and high-rise blocks, ask the agent whether the building has had a cladding or external-wall assessment and whether an EWS1 form is available, then have your solicitor request the building-safety information from the managing agent. The Building Safety Act 2022 introduced protections affecting who can be charged for some remediation work on certain higher-risk buildings, so the building's status can affect both your mortgage and any future bills, and the exact protections depend on the building and your lease. Public registers such as the Building Safety Fund can show whether a building is in a remediation programme. Flatscope cross-references the Building Safety Fund register and public sources, and when a building's cladding status cannot be verified it says so plainly rather than implying it is safe.
Is the flat I am looking at overpriced?
The fairest test is what comparable flats nearby actually sold for, not other asking prices, since asking prices can sit above what buyers really pay. Pull HM Land Registry sold prices for the same building, street, and similar flats, adjust for size, floor, condition, and lease length, and compare that to the asking price. A long time on the market or a recent price cut are useful signals too. Flatscope runs this comparison for you using Land Registry data, scores the asking price on a 0 to 20 Value axis, and gives a plain verdict from Strong buy through to Skip so you can see where the price sits.
About Flatscope
Does Flatscope work out the stamp duty on a flat?
Yes. Flatscope calculates the Stamp Duty Land Tax due on the flat as part of the report, so the purchase cost you see reflects the tax and not just the asking price. Stamp Duty Land Tax applies in England, and in Wales the equivalent is Land Transaction Tax, which your solicitor confirms. The rules and thresholds change fairly often, so treat the figure as a budgeting guide rather than formal tax advice, and confirm the final amount with your solicitor or conveyancer before you commit. It is one more number you would otherwise have to look up and compute yourself.
How much does Flatscope cost?
Your first report is free, so you can paste a Rightmove link and see the full thing before paying anything. The planned paid tiers after launch are £9.99 a month for Solo and £14.99 a month for Together, which adds partner comment threads and a larger allowance, and both are free during early access. There is no agent commission and no subscription lock-in to try it. You can run your first flat now at flatscope.co.uk and decide from there.
Which listing sites and areas does Flatscope cover?
Right now Flatscope works with Rightmove listings, and support for Zoopla and OnTheMarket is in progress. Coverage is England and Wales only, because the public records and leasehold rules differ in Scotland, which is not supported. You paste a Rightmove listing URL and get back a web report plus a five-page PDF or DOCX. If a flat falls outside this coverage we will tell you rather than return a half-checked report.
How accurate is Flatscope, and can I trust the figures?
Every figure in a report is traced back to the public record it came from, and the report carries a citation to that source. One model drafts the verdict and a separate model fact-checks each figure against its cited source in a hard-mode pass, so any number that cannot be traced is flagged rather than invented. The headline score is a deterministic calculation across five axes of Value, Lease, Costs, Energy, and Market, not a model guessing a number. It is a research and screening tool, so you still confirm anything that affects your decision with your solicitor and surveyor.
Where does Flatscope's data come from?
Everything is built from public records. The sources include HM Land Registry sold prices, the gov.uk EPC register, ONS area statistics, council tax bands, police.uk crime data, Ofsted school records, the Building Safety Fund register, Environment Agency flood data, TfL transport data for London, and Companies House. Every figure in every report carries a citation back to the source it came from, so you can check it yourself. We do not buy or resell private datasets and we are independent of the portals.
Are these really AI research assistants, or just clever search?
Flatscope runs an eight-step agentic research pipeline, where each step is a focused job against a single public-record source. One model drafts the verdict and a separate model fact-checks every figure against its cited record, and anything that cannot be verified is flagged rather than stated as fact. The final score is a deterministic five-axis calculation, not a number a model made up. We do the reading and the cross-checking, and the decision stays with you.
Is Flatscope financial or legal advice?
No. Flatscope is informational software that distils published public guidance and public records into one report, and it is not regulated financial or legal advice. You still need a solicitor for the legal work, a RICS-qualified surveyor before exchange, and a mortgage broker or lender for borrowing decisions. Where any rule or figure is uncertain, the report's standing line is to confirm the current position with your solicitor. We make that disclaimer plainly on every report.
Is Flatscope affiliated with Rightmove, Zoopla or OnTheMarket?
No. Flatscope is independent, built in London, and not connected to any portal. We sit on top of public listings and add a research layer from government and public-record data, and we do not list properties, take agent commissions, or compete with the portals. That independence is the point, because it means the verdict is about the flat and not about a sale. You can reach us at hello@flatscope.co.uk.
How does Flatscope handle cladding history and building safety?
Flatscope cross-references the Building Safety Fund register and public sources, and notes EWS1 availability where it can be found. If a building's cladding or external-wall status cannot be verified from public records, the report says so clearly rather than implying the building is safe. Building safety on taller blocks sits under the Building Safety Act 2022, and the detail still needs to come from the managing agent through your solicitor. We surface the public signal so you know to ask the right questions before you commit.
Have a flat in mind? Paste the Rightmove link and see the full report free.