Depends on your situation - family? Plans for a family?

Look out for recent patio work, and never buy houses from people called Fred or Rose.

HTH

Currently looking myself and a friend has been accompanying me. She has picked up/noticed so many things I'd missed.

Ignore decor and furnishings, look at room sizes, visit at weekends too particularly for parking situation. If double glazed find out when it was installed.

Damp, mould, boggy garden, cracks >5 mm in any walls, neighbourhood anti-social behaviour (check the online police crime map)

Some friends brought a house a few years back and complained that A: there was no carpet in one room and B: there were lots of flies in the house.

The house was brought vacant posession from a solicitor.

They've never peiced the puzzle together on this one (and I'm not telling them), but it's fair to say most of us have a giggle when we hear this.

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Check out the local riding. I'd hate to live somewhere where you had to drive to ride.

Visit the local Pub

You will often found out far more about whats it like in the local area than any EA will ever tell you 😉

All the obvious that you can cover by paying for the better survey. Plus access I have dealt with loads of access parking disputes particularly for terraces were you need to go round the back by crossing others land’s have seen houses land locked as they have no legal rights to cross the neighbors property. Neighbors who block vehicle access by putting house extensions on to the back access or secure the gates with padlocks. It always pays to try and talk to neighbors or locals in the pub or corner shop

Next time I buy a house, I'll check the following;

*Turn all the light switches on and off - make sure they do what they're supposed to. Turn on several kitchen appliances at once and see if the trip switch trips.

*Turn the shower on - does it work? Does it get warm?

*^^^ Ditto all the taps in the house

*Is there fresh paint anywhere? Why is it there? Covering up damp problems perhaps?

*Open and close all the doors - do they close properly?

*Visit the property at several different times of the day - are the neighbours hanging about in their nightwear drinking cider with all their mates, listening to the worst music ever and smoking spliffs the size of battleships? (This one is particularly close to my heart).

Basically, be really nosey - move furniture around to see if the wall to wall laminate / carpets actually goes to the wall.

Don't be scared of appearing to be rude - you're making one of the biggest purchases of your life....