The buyer’s field guides
What to check before you offer on a property.
Practical, sourced guides for UK home buyers. The lease, the running costs, the building safety, and the price. The same checks Flatscope runs from a pasted Rightmove or Zoopla link, written out so you can do the desk check yourself first.
9 guidesevery figure tied to a public recordEngland and Wales
How to check how many years are left on a lease
Find how many years are left on a leasehold flat. Where the lease length is written, the free and £7 ways to check it, a years-left calculator, and what under 80 years means for the price and your mortgage.
Read the guideIs this property overpriced, how to value it from sold prices
A repeatable method to test a property's asking price against real HM Land Registry sold prices, build a comparable set, and set a defensible offer range.
Read the guideReading a service charge before you offer on a flat
How to check a flat's service charge before you buy, judge if it's reasonable, read the reserve fund and spot a major-works bill before you offer.
Read the guideEWS1 forms explained, what a flat buyer must check
What an EWS1 form is, which flats need one, what options A and B mean, how long it lasts and who pays, and how cladding should shape your offer on a flat.
Read the guideThe questions to ask before you offer on a leasehold flat
A structured checklist of the questions to ask before buying a leasehold flat, grouped by what each answer reveals, so nothing material surprises you later.
Read the guideEx-local-authority flats, the real pros and cons for buyers
A clear-eyed UK buyer's guide to ex-council flats covering service charges, mortgageability, lease history, resale, and how to test the lower price properly.
Read the guideNew-build or period flat, what a buyer should weigh
New build versus older flat in England and Wales. Weigh snagging, lease length, ground rent, service charges, resale and warranty cover before you commit.
Read the guideHow to read an EPC, and what a poor rating costs a flat buyer
What an EPC band means for flat buyers, why flats are hard to improve, what an E F or G costs in running terms, plus mortgage and validity checks.
Read the guideDo flats need a survey? What a Level 2 covers on a leasehold flat
Does a flat need a RICS survey? What a Level 2 covers and misses on a leasehold flat, and the cheap record checks to run before you spend £400 to £800.
Read the guide
Skip the afternoon of desk research
Run these checks on a real property in minutes.
Paste a Rightmove or Zoopla link and Flatscope reads the lease, the running costs, the building safety and the sold prices into one sourced verdict. Three free reports a month, no card. When it cannot answer, it says so.