After your report
What to say, what to ask, what to show
A report tells you what a property is worth. It does not tell you what to write to the agent. Here are the sentences, word for word, for all four sides of the table.
Sellers
You are selling and want to hold your price
Landlords
You are letting and want the right tenant
Buyers
You are buying and want no surprises
Tenants
You are renting and do not want to overpay
For Sellers
Selling is decided less by how well you negotiate than by how few open questions are left in the room.
Every question a buyer has to answer for himself, he answers against you.
In the listing, right under the key facts
An independent assessment of this property is available. It covers the valuation, the location and the known defects. I will send it to you before the viewing.
Naming the defects yourself takes the pressure out of them. A buyer who discovers a crack marks the price down. A buyer who read about it beforehand prices it in. That difference is real money.
First reply to every enquiry
Please find the documents attached. If anything is still unclear after reading them, let us settle it before the appointment, then the viewing is worth more to both of us.
You filter without turning anyone away. Whoever still comes after reading is serious. Whoever does not would have cost you a Saturday.
When the buyer pushes on price
The price rests on comparable sales in the area, which are set out with their sources in the documents. If you see a point that is missing there, tell me and we will do the maths together.
You are not defending the price, you are defending how it was reached. That is the only argument you can win, because your figure has a source and his does not.
To the agent, before you instruct anyone
I have my own assessment of the property. How did you arrive at your asking price, and which comparable properties is it based on?
An asking price set too low sells quickly and costs you the difference. This question shows within a minute whether someone calculated or guessed.
Which photos actually help
- ·Shoot in the morning under an overcast sky. Direct sun makes hard shadows, and hard shadows make rooms look smaller.
- ·Shoot from a corner, camera around chest height. From the middle of the doorway every room looks like a corridor.
- ·An empty room sells worse than a furnished one, because nobody can judge size without something familiar in the frame.
- ·The first image decides whether anyone clicks at all. Use the room that gives the most, not the facade just because that is the order the photos happened in.
- ·Photograph the parts that are not pretty as well. Someone who first sees the boiler room at the viewing feels misled, even if nothing was hidden.
The mistake almost everyone makes
Showing the dream picture before it is clear whether planning rules allow it. Anyone who advertises a possible loft conversion and then has to admit at the viewing that he never checked with the council loses more than the conversion. He loses his credibility for everything else in the listing.
For Landlords
Letting is not a pricing question, it is a selection question.
You collect the rent once a month, you live with the tenant for years.
In the listing, last paragraph
The rent is based on the applicable legal position and on comparable flats nearby. I am happy to set out how it was calculated at the viewing.
In countries with rent caps, a rent set too high is not merely awkward, it is recoverable. Offering the calculation shows that you have one.
Reply to the first enquiry
Thank you for your interest. So that the appointment is not wasted for you: the flat is available from [date] and the service charges are around [amount] per month. Does that work for you?
The two things viewings fail on are the date and the running costs. Naming both up front saves you half the appointments and annoys nobody.
At handover
Let us walk through together and record every point, including the small ones. That protects you when you move out just as much as it protects me.
The inventory is the only document that counts at the end. Framing it as shared protection rather than paperwork gets you an honest one instead of a hurried one.
When a tenant reports a repair
Thank you for letting me know. I will take care of it and come back to you with a date by [date].
A promised date prevents escalation. Most tenancy disputes do not start with the damage, they start with the silence that follows it.
Which photos actually help
- ·Show every room, including the bathroom and the storage cupboard. A room missing from the listing reads as a room being hidden.
- ·Shoot it empty and clean. Nobody renting a flat wants to see your furniture, they want to see their space.
- ·One photo of the building from outside and one of the entrance. Renting a flat means renting the stairwell with it.
- ·If there is a view, shoot it through the window with the frame in shot. Otherwise it looks like a stock photo.
The mistake almost everyone makes
Setting the rent at the top of the range and hoping nobody checks. In many countries the cap is binding and the tenant can reclaim years later. Today's premium becomes the day after tomorrow's repayment.
For Buyers
As a buyer you have exactly one window in which questions are free: before you sign.
After that, every answer costs money.
First message to the agent or seller
Before I arrange a viewing: is there an energy performance certificate, a current title register extract, and, if it is a flat, the minutes of the owners' meetings for the last three years?
These three documents tell you more than any viewing. Whoever has them sends them. Whoever dodges has already answered you.
In writing, and this matters more than asking in person
Please confirm in writing whether any defect is known to you that is not stated in the listing.
In much of continental Europe a seller who answers this falsely is liable, and no exclusion clause in the contract protects him. In England and Wales the rule is different: a seller is under no general duty to disclose (caveat emptor), but he must not answer a written question falsely. That is why you want it in writing, not over coffee.
In England and Wales, additionally
Please send me the completed TA6 Property Information Form before I instruct a survey.
This is the form on which the seller answers in writing. It is where a false answer becomes misrepresentation. Read it before you spend money on a survey, not after.
When development potential is advertised
You mention that the loft can be converted. Is there a written planning position on that, or is it an estimate?
Development potential is the most common price premium with nothing behind it. Between technically possible and legally permitted sit the local plan, listed status and, in a block, the consent of the other owners.
Which photos actually help
- ·Take your own photos at the viewing, with the date on. Window reveals, corners behind furniture, the cellar, the fuse box, the boiler with its data plate.
- ·Photograph every damp patch, even a small one. If it is bigger later, you have the history.
- ·Photograph the facade from diagonally across the street. Cracks in render are almost invisible head on and obvious in raking light from the side.
The mistake almost everyone makes
Letting a good feeling in the flat buy your questions off you. Someone who already loves the property asks more cautiously. Write your questions down before you stand inside it for the first time.
For Tenants
Many countries have a legal ceiling on rent.
Almost nobody checks it, because almost nobody knows it exists.
First enquiry, so that you get an appointment at all
Hello, I am interested in the flat and available from [date]. I work as [occupation] and I am looking for a long-term tenancy. Would a viewing this week suit you?
Landlords are looking for reliability, not enthusiasm. Three facts land better than three sentences about how much you love the flat.
At the viewing
What were the service charges in the last two years in reality, and when was the last balancing payment?
The figure in the listing is a hope, the statement is the truth. The gap can come to a month's rent per year.
Before signing, if something feels off
I would like to understand how the rent is made up, that is the base rent and each of the supplements.
Supplements are only permitted within limits in several countries and have to be justifiable. The question is polite, but it shows that you want to see the arithmetic.
At handover, and always in writing
Please let us record that [item] is already like this. I do not want it charged to me when I move out.
Anything not in the inventory at move-in counts as caused by you at move-out. A scratch you name on the way in costs nothing. The same scratch on the way out costs your deposit.
Which photos actually help
- ·On the day you move in, photograph every room completely before a single box is inside. Those photos are your deposit.
- ·Take close-ups of every existing bit of damage, with a tape measure or a coin next to it for scale.
- ·Photograph every meter reading on handover day, with the serial number legible.
The mistake almost everyone makes
Paying the rent without ever checking whether it is lawful. Someone who overpays never notices on their own, because nobody contradicts them. Checking takes half an hour once and holds for the whole tenancy.
Ready to copy
Three ready-made emails
You send these yourself, under your own name. We never write to anyone on your behalf. Below each template you will find what to look for in the reply, because an evasive answer is an answer too.
To the estate agent
Before you arrange a viewing.
Subject
Documents for [property / listing reference]
Hello, I am interested in [property, listing reference] and would like to prepare properly for the viewing. Could you send me in advance: 1. the energy performance certificate, 2. a current title register extract, 3. for a flat, the minutes of the owners' meetings for the last three years and the current reserve fund. Two questions as well. Is any defect known to you that is not stated in the listing? And what were the service charges in the last two years in reality? Thank you and best regards [Your name]
How to read the reply
Whoever has the documents sends them. Whoever puts you off until the viewing has already answered. Keep the reply: in much of Europe a false answer to the defect question makes the seller liable, and in England and Wales a false written answer can amount to misrepresentation even though there is no duty to disclose.
To the developer
For a new build, before you sign a reservation.
Subject
Questions about [scheme], unit [number]
Hello, we are interested in [scheme], unit [number]. Before a reservation I would ask for the following: 1. the full specification that will form part of the contract, 2. the payment schedule with the dates of each instalment, 3. the completion date you are committing to, and what applies if it is missed, 4. how the instalments we pay are secured. Thank you and best regards [Your name]
How to read the reply
What matters is whether the specification becomes part of the contract or stays a brochure. A brochure owes you nothing. On the date, only the consequence of missing it counts, because a date without a consequence is a statement of intent.
To the local planning authority
When a conversion, an extra storey or a change of use is being advertised.
Subject
Planning enquiry, [address], [plot reference]
Dear Sir or Madam, I am considering buying the property at [address], plot reference [number], and would be grateful for information on the following: 1. What use class and what development plan apply to the plot? 2. Would a loft conversion or an additional storey be permissible there in principle? 3. Are there constraints such as a conservation area, listed status, a preservation requirement or a flood or hazard zone? 4. Are there open applications, appeals or enforcement notices relating to the property? I would also be grateful to know which documents you need from me. Yours faithfully [Your name]
How to read the reply
This answer is the difference between advertised development potential and real development potential. In many places it is free or costs little and takes a few days. Only price a conversion into the property once this reply is in front of you, in writing.
Once your report is ready
How to publish it so that it gets read
Put the link in the listing, not the file
A link stays current, an attached PDF is out of date from the day you change anything. Put the link in the body text of the listing, not only in the attachments, or nobody will find it.
One sentence in front of it saying what it is
A bare link does not get clicked. “Independent assessment with valuation and known defects” does get clicked, because it is clear what is waiting on the other side.
The same link in every reply
Not only in the listing. In your first reply to every enquiry, in the appointment confirmation, and in the message after the viewing. Most people only read it the second time.
For portals that do not allow links
Some portals strip external links automatically. Then write in the listing that documents are available on request and send the link in your first reply. Do not disguise the link, in the worst case that costs you the whole listing.
These sentences only work once you hold something you can point to. That is what a report is. Have a property checked.