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Before you rent Beta*

Look a place up before you view it · know what to look for when you are standing in it
Summary Start this when you first see an advert and carry it with you to the viewing. Put the address in and it points you to the free public records for the place — the energy certificate, the agent, licensing, flood risk, crime — then turns what you find into a list of things to look for when you walk round. Nothing here costs money to look up. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere unless you save it to a file yourself.
Saved files stay on your own device.
The place you are looking at

Answering an online advert? Keep a copy of it. Adverts are changed or taken down once a place is let, and what the advert said — the rent, what is included, the furniture, the date it is available — is what the agent can be held to later. Put the link in, open the advert, and save the page as a PDF: on a computer press Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on a Mac) and choose Save as PDF; on a phone use Share → Print, or take full-page screenshots. Then attach it here and it is kept inside your saved file.

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Before you book a viewing — ask first

Some answers rule a place out before you spend a journey on it. Tick anything the advert already tells you and it drops out of the email. Letting adverts are expected to show the rent, deposit, council tax band and heating anyway, so check there first.

Send it from your own email so the answers come back in writing.

Look it up before you go — all free

Energy certificate (EPC)

Find the certificate by postcode ↗ — public and free. Besides the band, it says roughly when the building went up, what the walls are made of and how it is heated, which is a lot of what you need to know about damp before you get there. If there is no certificate at all, the landlord needs one before letting.

The agent, and who looks after the building

Press Companies House to open the register with the name already searched. Look at the status line: active is what you want; proposal to strike off, liquidation or dissolved means do not hand over money. Every letting agent must belong to a redress scheme — check it on The Property Ombudsman · Property Redress Scheme. If they hold money they also need client money protection.

Licensing

A shared house with 5 or more people from 2 or more households always needs a licence, and many councils licence ordinary lets as well. Check by postcode ↗ · Find the council ↗ — councils keep a public register of licensed properties.

The area

Long-term flood risk ↗ (England) · Council tax band ↗ (England and Wales) · Street View ↗ — use the dates in the corner to step back through the years: scaffolding, roof work, stains down the outside walls or a conversion going on are all there to see.

Fetched from police.uk only when you press the button — that sends the map position of the postcode, nothing else.

What your research points to

Put the address in and press Look it up, then fill in what you find. This list builds itself as you go.

At the viewing

Anything picked out in yellow is there because of something you found above. Mark each one as you go round, and take a photo of anything that worries you — on your own phone, so the date is on it.

Meters, the stopcock and the lines in

Ask the agent to show you each one. If you pay the bills you have to be able to read your meters, and your supplier has to be able to reach them. A stopcock you cannot get to is no use when a pipe bursts. And note which lines already come in — it decides what broadband you can have without new work.

Questions to send in writing afterwards

Ask by email, not on the doorstep, so the answers are on record. Change it to sound like you.

Questions renters ask: I paid money for a flat and it was a scam. What can I do? · Can a landlord rent out a home with an F or G energy rating? · How do I know my rent and deposit are safe with a letting agent? · The rent, council tax band or bills in the advert were wrong. What can I do? · How do I find out who my landlord is when I only deal with the agent? · Does my shared house need a licence, and what happens if it doesn't have one? · all questions
Savvy Renter — savvyrenter.co.uk · free tools for renters · Everything on this page happens in your browser. Nothing you type is stored, uploaded or sent anywhere unless you press a button that says where it goes — save it to a file, or it is gone when you close the tab.
* Beta. This page is new. It is a guide to what to look for and what to ask, not a survey and not legal advice, and the rules it mentions are for England unless it says otherwise.