Landmark Homecheck Alternatives: Cheaper Checks Before You Offer

Why you will not find a Homecheck price on your own

Landmark Information Group is one of the two big UK environmental search providers, with Groundsure the other. Homecheck is its residential brand. Landmark sells these reports to conveyancers and search providers rather than to buyers, so the first time most people see one is in the search pack after their offer is accepted.

Published reseller prices put Homecheck Residential from about £62 + VAT, Envirosearch from about £89 + VAT and RiskView from about £136 + VAT. Your conveyancer's quote may show a different figure, because the search usually comes bundled with the local and drainage searches.

What you can check yourself first

HomeBuyerCheck works on any address in England and Wales. The free report shows the Environment Agency flood zone for rivers and the sea (England), past sale prices, the EPC, crime, schools and the council tax band.

For £4.99, Premium adds British Geological Survey ground hazards, the radon band, the Coal Authority mining reporting area, listed building, conservation area, Article 4 and tree preservation order overlays in England, whether the owner is a UK or overseas company, a Companies House check, the Building Safety Regulator higher-risk building register and any Property Chamber tribunal history at the building, plus a plain-English verdict and questions to ask the seller.

What it does not replace

Landmark's reports exist mainly to check contaminated land and to give a detailed flood assessment. HomeBuyerCheck has no contaminated land data and its flood check is the river and sea flood zone only, not surface water or groundwater. Your conveyancer will still order the environmental search if you go ahead.

The point of checking first is to spend £4.99, not a few hundred pounds in searches and legal fees, finding out that a house sits in a flood zone or a coal mining area.

Homecheck flood reports

Landmark also sells flood-specific reports under the Homecheck name, usually ordered when the environmental search flags flood risk. If flooding is your main worry, run HomeBuyerCheck's free report first: if the address is not in Flood Zone 2 or 3 for rivers and the sea, you have your first answer in seconds.