The complete guide to cross-checking a UK property listing against public records

Why cross-checking matters more than the asking price

Property portals do not verify listing content. Agents are bound by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team's material information guidance, which require disclosure of material information such as tenure, council tax band and known risks. But compliance varies, floor areas are often taken from an old EPC or a plan drawn to "illustrative" accuracy, and "scope to extend" is an opinion, not a permission.

A variance is simply a gap between what the listing says and what the record shows. Some variances are innocent — a rounding difference between EPC floor area and a floor plan. Others change what the property is worth, or what it will cost you to own. The point of the exercise is not to catch anyone out. It is to walk into a negotiation knowing which parts of the story are verified and which are not.

The public records that answer real questions

The eight-step cross-check

1. Capture the claims first. Before you look anything up, write down what the listing actually asserts: asking price, property type, tenure, bedrooms, bathrooms, floor area, council tax band, service charge, ground rent, and any statement about extensions, flooding or condition. If you skip this step you will unconsciously soften the claim to match whatever you find.
2. Pin the address. Portal listings often show only a street and postcode. You need the specific plot before property-level records mean anything. Photographs, the floor plan orientation, the price history and the number of bedrooms usually narrow it to one or two candidates.
3. Pull the EPC. Search the EPC register by postcode and find the certificate for your address. Compare its total floor area against the listing's, and note the lodgement date — a certificate from 2011 describes a property that may since have been extended or reinsulated.
4. Pull the sold price history. HM Land Registry Price Paid data shows what the property last sold for and when, plus every other registered sale in the postcode.
5. Check planning. Search your local planning authority's register for the address, and check national designations on planning.data.gov.uk. An extension with no application on file is not automatically a problem — permitted development covers a lot — but it is a question worth asking.
6. Check flood risk. Use the government's long-term flood risk service for the postcode and cross-reference statutory flood zones. "No history of flooding" refers to the seller's knowledge, not to modelled risk.
7. Price the area, not the property. Work out £/sq ft for comparable registered sales in the postcode and compare it to the asking price per square foot. This is the single most useful number in the whole exercise.
8. Grade your confidence. For each claim, record whether you verified it at property level, only at area level, or not at all. An unverified claim is not a false claim — but you should not build an offer on it.

The variances that come up most often

• Floor area disagreement. The listing's square footage and the EPC's total floor area differ by more than a rounding margin. See square footage versus floor plan claims.
• Undocumented alteration. A loft conversion, extension or outbuilding with no matching planning record and no obvious permitted development route. See verifying planning permission history.
• Flood exposure the listing does not mention. The property sits in a statutory flood zone or an Environment Agency flood warning area. See flood risk checks before offering.
• Stale or mismatched EPC. The certificate is old, is for a different unit, or describes heating and insulation that the photographs contradict. See EPC rating discrepancies.
• Price history the listing omits. Registered sales, or asking price reductions on the portal, that change how you read the current price. See asking price drop history.

Turning variances into a position

A variance on its own is not a discount. What it gives you is a specific, checkable question to put to the agent — and an answer to that question is worth more than a haggle. "Your listing says 1,150 sq ft; the EPC lodged in 2019 says 96 m², which is 1,033 sq ft. Which figure is the one I am buying?" is a very different conversation from "can you do better on price?".

When the answers do justify a lower number, structure it. Our guide to negotiating with public evidence covers how to build an opening offer, a realistic target and a walk-away ceiling out of the evidence you have gathered.

What public records cannot tell you

• Condition. No dataset replaces a RICS survey — records tell you what exists on paper, not what is failing behind the plaster.
• Title detail. Covenants, easements, rights of way and lease terms live in the title register and the lease, which your conveyancer will read.
• Anything unregistered. Cash-free transfers, probate transfers and some new builds do not appear in Price Paid data.
• The future. Modelled flood risk, planning designations and crime counts describe now, not what happens after you complete.