The questions to ask before you offer on a leasehold flat
Before you offer on a leasehold flat, ask about six things in writing. First, the lease itself, meaning the years remaining today, the ground rent terms, and whether an extension has already started. Second, the running costs, meaning the service charge history, the reserve fund, and any planned or recent major works. Third, building safety, meaning cladding, EWS1 availability, and remediation status. Fourth, the seller and the market, meaning why they are moving, time on market, and prior fall-throughs. Fifth, the energy picture, meaning the EPC band and what can realistically be improved. Sixth, the freeholder or management setup. The point of asking before you offer, rather than after, is that every answer can change your number or your conditions while you still have leverage. This guide groups the questions by what they reveal, names the public records you can check yourself, and shows you how to put the answers on record.
Why the offer stage, not the viewing, is when these questions matter most
At a viewing you are looking. At the offer stage you are committing, and that is the moment your questions carry weight. Once your offer is accepted and the property is marked sold subject to contract, the seller has usually stopped marketing and you have started spending. Searches, a survey, and solicitor time all run up before exchange, and much of that money is non-refundable if you walk away.
So the questions below are not survey questions. They are the things you want answered, ideally in writing, before you name a price. A short lease, a large cladding bill, or a service charge that has risen sharply in a few years should shape your offer, not ambush you weeks later. Asking early also signals to the agent that you are a serious, informed buyer, which tends to help rather than hurt a negotiation.
Lease questions, years remaining today, ground rent terms, and any extension already started
Start with the lease length, and ask for the exact figure as of today, not the original term. A 999-year lease is rarely a concern. Anything under roughly 90 years deserves attention, and under 80 years is where buyers traditionally worry, because below that point the cost of extending has historically included an extra element called marriage value under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 is changing parts of this regime, and not all of it is in force, so confirm the current position with a solicitor before you treat 80 years as a hard line.
Ask three specific things. What is the exact unexpired term today. What is the ground rent now, and how and when does it escalate, because some older leases increase the rent at fixed intervals in ways lenders dislike. And has the seller already served a formal notice to extend the lease, because a started statutory claim can sometimes be assigned to you. You can verify the lease and ground rent independently by buying the title register and the lease from HM Land Registry at gov.uk for a few pounds. Read what the document says rather than relying on the listing.
Cost questions, service charge history, reserve fund, and any planned or recent major works
The headline service charge in an advert is a snapshot. Ask for the last three years of actual service charge accounts, not just the current estimate, so you can see the trend and any one-off spikes. Ask what sits in the reserve fund, also called a sinking fund, because a healthy reserve means future big repairs are part-paid, while an empty one means you could face a large bill soon after moving in.
Then ask the question that catches buyers out. Are any major works planned, quoted, or recently completed. Under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, a freeholder must formally consult leaseholders when works will cost more than 250 pounds for any one leaseholder, or for long-term agreements costing any one leaseholder more than 100 pounds per year. Ask to see any section 20 notices issued or pending. A new roof or a lift replacement consultation in progress can mean a bill of thousands, and you want that priced in before you offer, not discovered at the first AGM.
Building-safety questions, cladding, EWS1 availability, and remediation status
For flats in larger or higher buildings, building safety can affect both your mortgage and your future bills. Ask directly whether the building has any cladding or external wall material under review, whether an EWS1 form exists and what rating it carries, and whether the building is enrolled in any remediation scheme or has works planned. The Building Safety Act 2022 introduced protections for many leaseholders against certain remediation costs, but the detail depends on the building, the parties involved, and the circumstances, so confirm how it applies to this specific flat with a solicitor.
Where a building has sought public funding for cladding remediation, you can cross-check against the Building Safety Fund register published on gov.uk, which lists buildings in the programme. If the building appears there, ask the agent for the current remediation status and the expected leaseholder contribution, if any. No EWS1 where one is needed can stall a mortgage, so this is a question to settle before you commit, not after a valuer flags it.
Seller and market questions, why they are moving, time on market, and any prior fall-throughs
These questions read the situation rather than the flat. Ask the agent why the seller is moving, how long the property has been on the market, whether the price has been reduced, and whether any previous sale fell through and why. A long time on market or a collapsed prior sale is not automatically a red flag, but it is a thread worth pulling, because the reason might be a lease issue, a survey finding, or a down-valuation that will affect you too.
You can sanity-check some of this yourself. HM Land Registry's Price Paid Data on gov.uk shows what the flat and its neighbours actually sold for and when, which tells you whether the asking price is in line with recent reality. A motivated seller and a flat that has lingered both strengthen your hand. A flat that fell through on a survey more than once is telling you to budget for a thorough survey of your own.
Energy and running-cost questions, the EPC band and what can realistically be improved in a flat
Almost every marketed home should have an Energy Performance Certificate, rated A to G and valid for ten years. Ask for the current EPC and read the recommendations, because in a flat your ability to act on them is limited. You usually cannot touch the external walls, the roof, or communal systems, so a low band driven by solid walls or electric heating may be expensive or impossible for you to fix alone.
You can look the certificate up yourself for free on the gov.uk EPC register by address, which also shows the assessment date and the suggested improvements. Use it to estimate running costs and to spot anything that hints at a colder, pricier flat. Treat the EPC as a guide rather than a guarantee, since the rating is modelled rather than metered, but a flat stuck at the bottom of the scale with no realistic owner-led fix is a genuine running-cost question to weigh into your offer.
How to ask in writing so the answers are on record before you commit
Phone calls evaporate. Put your questions in a single email to the agent and ask for written answers, ideally with the seller's leasehold information pack, often called the LPE1, and the last three years of service charge accounts attached. This does two things. It gets you accurate figures rather than a salesperson's best guess, and it creates a record you and your solicitor can rely on later.
Keep it businesslike and grouped, for example one short paragraph each on lease, costs, safety, and energy, with a clear request for documents. If an answer comes back vague, whether that is no service charge history, no EWS1, or no clear ground rent schedule, treat the gap itself as information and either make your offer conditional on receiving it or factor in the uncertainty. Anything material that only surfaces after exchange is much harder to renegotiate, so the written trail is your protection.
Turning the answers into a confident, conditional offer
Once the answers are in, you can offer with your eyes open. A strong picture, meaning a long lease, a modest and stable service charge, a healthy reserve, no safety overhang, and a sensible EPC, supports a clean offer near asking. A mixed picture lets you price the risk. You might offer lower to reflect a short lease, or make the offer conditional on the seller serving a lease-extension notice, on sight of the section 20 position, or on a satisfactory EWS1.
State your conditions plainly in the offer email so there is no ambiguity later. Your solicitor will formalise everything before exchange, but a well-framed conditional offer protects you from the start and shows the seller you have done the work. The goal is simple. Nothing material about this flat should be a surprise after your offer is accepted, because you asked the right questions while you still held the leverage.
How Flatscope does this check from a Rightmove link
Flatscope is research software for UK flat buyers. You paste a Rightmove listing and it produces a sourced report with a verdict, one of Strong buy, Reasonable buy, Caveats apply, Reconsider, or Skip, plus a headline score and a breakdown of lease, costs, safety, and sold-price signals. Each figure drawn from a public record is cited to its source, including HM Land Registry, the gov.uk EPC register, and the Building Safety Fund register, so you can see where the number came from.
The aim is to answer many of these questions from public records before you even view, so you walk in already knowing the EPC band, the recent sold prices on the street, and the public safety signals. Flatscope cannot read a lease the seller has not published or see private service charge accounts, so it ends every report with the specific questions still worth asking the agent for that exact flat, rather than a generic list. It covers England and Wales and reads Rightmove links today, with other portals in progress. Your first report is free in early access. Paste your Rightmove link and get a tailored question list, so your offer goes in with eyes open.
Have a flat in mind? Check it before you offer.
Paste the Rightmove link and Flatscope runs this whole check from the public record, with every figure cited. Your first report is free.
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Flatscope is informational software, not regulated financial or legal advice. Where leasehold law is mid-reform, confirm the current position with your solicitor.