A good Inspector we have risk and database researched your property before he/she arrives. This process should have raised various questions that will probably be added to the Inspectors normal list of standard queries.

Any Inspector will need to know the history of the land and buildings. This broadly splits into the following areas:-

• Tenure/Legal
• Planning and Building Control
• Limitations or special instructions (imposed upon or for the Inspector)
• Risks
• Documentation, Certificates and Service records
• DIY
• Insurance Claims
• Premises age and the dates of material changes/problems/events

So, the Inspector will not want to be bothered by your Pets/Dogs. Similarly young children may best be taken to neighbours/friends. A tidy environment is always easier the inspect than an untidy and unclean home.

The Inspector will want to get at and into all rooms and areas and so unlocking the garage, shed and side gate will all be appreciated. Moving the car off drainage inspection chambers is also a good idea; as would be taking the car out of the garage or car-port.

If you can take copies of important documents these will be invaluable to the Inspector but it is our experience he/she can just as easily take photographs of such documents.

So what questions and/or documents are important?

1. How old is the house?
2. Is it Listed (which Grade), in a Conservation Area or in a Smoke Control Area?
3. Are any Council Plans/Proposals known of that may affect the house or its plot?
4. Boiler age/installation and service/repair records.
5. Is mains Gas available and metered?
6. Are all other mains services connected and metered?
7. What private services are connected: do they pass to and from only public land OR do they pass over/under private land (and are they shared)?
8. Date of electrical system tests or of re-wiring/alterations.
9. Date of double glazing installation (FENSA certified or under Building Control?).
10. Planning Permissions and/or Building Regulation Approvals.
11. Who designed and constructed (and when) the Conservatory.
12. Lease details.
13. Any off-site buildings or parking facilities? Full details needed.
14. Do any off-site shared facilities
15. Management provisions, fees and charges + name and contacts details.
16. Tree Preservation Orders?
17. Trees removed: and when?
18. Have any Insurance Claims, Party Wall Act Notifications, Neighbour or Boundary Disputes happened – full details/outcomes needed.
19. Extensions and/or improvement or conversion plans, dates, descriptions.
20. Inserted insulation? Type, when and by whom?
21. Have the drains ever blocked, been repaired or renewed? Are any chamber covers hidden from view?
22. What works have YOU done, OR have been done by non-professional or non-specialists?
23. What fixtures and fittings form part of the purchase price and will be staying in the home when the sellers move out?
24. Which site boundaries do you believe to be yours?

Anything you can do to provide certainty to your answers would be invaluable to the Inspector. Remember that anything you can produce to help the Inspector here will probably go into his/her Report and both their client and that clients legal team will have one less thing to worry about – if you take the time and effort to fully cooperate here you are rewarded with less uncertainty at a later date.

Much of the above may be included in the Home Information Pack: at the time of writing these words it is our experience most Sellers, Solicitors and Estate Agents are not bothering to request these details are produced “up front” and so the existing marketing/legal system is not entering in to the spirit of HIPs: in our opinion this attitude is to the detriment of all home buying transactions.