What to check before buying a home to renovate

Buying a home to renovate is often the best deal: you pay less and make the home the way you want it. But the right price depends on how much it will cost to fix, and you only understand that by looking at the right things. Here is what we check when a client asks us to come along to the second viewing.

Outside

• Roof: broken or shifted tiles, moss, detached gutters, stains under the eaves. Ask when it was last redone and whether there is asbestos cement (here is what that involves).
• Façade: cracks (the 45° ones at window corners are the most telling), detaching render, balconies with exposed rebar.
• Windows: single or double glazing, uninsulated shutter boxes (the number one thermal bridge).

Inside

• Electrics: consumer unit without an RCD, old sockets, loose wires: almost always means the system must be redone. Ask for the declaration of conformity: if there is none, budget for rewiring.
• Plumbing and heating: age of the boiler, iron pipes, cast-iron radiators (good, but heavy to move), water pressure at the taps.
• Damp: a low band on ground-floor walls, mould in the corners, a musty smell. Here is how to recognise the cause.
• Floors and slabs: dips, tiles that sound hollow, cracks in the ceilings.
• Bathrooms and kitchen: position of the drains; moving them costs, as we explain in the guide on bathroom costs.

Paperwork and the building

• Planning and cadastral compliance: the filed floor plan must match the actual state; if it does not, a regularisation is needed before the deed or the renovation.
• Energy performance certificate: tells you the starting class.
• Minutes of the owners' meetings of recent years: works approved and not yet paid for (roof, façade, lift) pass to the buyer.
• Building regulations: constraints on windows, colours, air-conditioning outdoor units.

Bringing the contractor along

We can come to the second viewing: in an hour we tell you what must be redone, what can wait and a rough estimate to put next to the purchase price. It costs nothing and is often worth a negotiation. After the deed, the path is that of the six stages.