What kind of homes do you buy?

We buy properties that make both a great home for you and a great investment for our funding partners.

The home must:

be in a quiet, urban area
be in good structural condition
have no history of foundation problems
be between £150K and £500K
be a private house or flat
be ready for you to move in and not be in immediate need of renovation (see examples here)
be freehold, share-of-freehold
be your main residence and not a buy-to-let
have a current EPC score of at least 69 (equivalent to a ‘C’ rating) or higher

The home can't be:

a non-standard construction home
a shared ownership home
a studio flat
a leasehold property
on a main road, motorway or that back onto railway lines
a home with unfairly sized bedrooms
a basement flat, a flat above commercial property or ex-social housing
a brand new-build (that hasn’t had a previous owner/occupier or is less than 12 months old)
on auction
listed buildings
a flood-risk home near the sea/rivers
a home with a high ground rent/service charge
in a block of flats more than 4 storeys high

How to spot homes we don't buy

Once you’ve found a home you like, use this guide to make sure it doesn’t have any hidden issues.

1. Check the EPC rating

An Energy Performance Certificate, often referred to as an 'EPC' is a review of a property’s energy efficiency.

Homes are rated from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and they're valid for 10 years.

When you're looking at homes on sites like Rightmove or Zoopla, you can usually find an EPC rating under an 'Energy Performance Certificate' section of an individual listing.

Important! Right now we can only help you buy homes with a current EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) rating of C or higher

2. Check for non-standard construction

Although you don’t need a mortgage to buy with us, homes with non-standard construction are generally not mortgageable. This means if/when you eventually wanted to buy the home from our funding partners, you may not be able to get a mortgage to do so. Or, if you wanted to sell the home we’d have a very limited pool of other potential buyers who are just cash buyers.

To make sure the home you like doesn’t have non-standard construction, check the listing for any mention of:

“cash buyers only”
“not mortgageable”
“non-standard construction”

3. Is it close to railway lines and motorways?

Homes close to railway lines and motorways are often impacted by noise pollution. You can use this tool to check if the home is a safe distance from them:

Click “continue”
In the “enter a location” bar on the top left of your screen, enter the postcode of the home you like
Select “Lden” under the “Road traffic noise levels” menu
If the home is in a blue or grey zone, we wouldn’t be able to help you buy it
If it’s in a red, orange or uncoloured zone, it’s good to go!
Use the same process to check for rail noise, just select “Lden” under the “Rail traffic noise levels” menu

4. Is the home close to noisy venues or businesses?

Large venues and businesses can also cause noise pollution. Generally, the home you buy should be in a residential area (surrounded by homes).

You can use these distances as a guide to check if the home is far enough away from noise polluters. Search for the postcode of the home you’d like to buy on Google Maps, it should be:

more than 25 metres away from petrol stations
more than 1km away from major airports
more than 100m away from large venues like pubs, concert halls etc.
more than 100m away from industrial units/estates

5. Is the home at risk of flooding?

Homes in areas at risk of flood zones are unsafe to live in. If the home you like is close to the sea or a river, send us a link to the home’s listing via Live Chat on our website and we’ll check if the home is safe (look out for the green speech bubble on the bottom right corner of your screen).

6. Does the home have expensive ground rent/service charge?

You’ll pay for any ground rent or service charges for the home you buy with us. If these costs are too high, it will affect your ability to buy more of your home (and the last thing we want to do is put anyone in financial difficulty!).

To find out if the home you like has ground rent or a service charge check the home’s listing and ask the Estate Agent.

We can only help you buy a home with a ground rent/service charge that is less than 0.05% of the home’s asking price.

For example, if the home’s asking price is £300,000, then the service charge would need to be less than £150 per month to meet our criteria (0.05% x £300,000).

Important! Not all homes will have ground rent or a service charge. If the home you like has neither of these and meets the other criteria, it’s good to go! ✅