Straight answers about running, keeping and selling a home: what things cost, what the paperwork means and what to do before it becomes a problem.
Most jobs that go badly wrong were agreed in a few minutes on a doorstep. These are the checks that take twenty minutes instead: the registers that matter, the insurance to see, how to compare quotes and pay safely, your rights if it goes wrong and what to keep when it's done.
Since 1 May 2026 the start of a tenancy in England looks different: no fixed term, no section 21 and no How to Rent guide, with a written statement of terms that has to come before the tenancy is agreed. Here's everything a new tenant must be given or checked, with the deadline and the proof to keep for each.
Planning permission and building regulations are separate systems asking different questions. A job can need one, both or neither. This guide sets out what common projects usually need in England, who signs them off and which certificate to keep for the day a buyer asks.
Each record runs on its own clock: a gas check every year, an electrical report at least every five, an EPC every ten and alarms checked on the first day of every tenancy. Here's each one as a calendar entry, with who may do it, when the tenant gets a copy and what to keep, for England first and then Wales and Scotland.
A receipt proves you paid somebody. It does not prove the work met building regulations or that the guarantee is still worth anything. This guide sets out what counts as evidence for each kind of job, where to replace a lost certificate and what to keep the day a job finishes.
If fewer people live in your home than it has bedrooms, a water meter will often cut your bill. This explains how unmetered and metered bills are worked out, gives a quick decision guide with a worked example and sets out the safety net that lets you switch back.
Overpaying a mortgage takes money straight off the balance, so you pay less interest and can finish years early. This shows what different overpayments could save on an illustrative mortgage, how lenders apply them and the checks worth making before you send any.
A mortgage valuation is not a survey and the three RICS levels are not simply cheap, medium and expensive. This compares what each level covers, walks through which one suits the home you are buying, lists what no survey covers and the specialists who fill the gaps, then gives the questions to ask before you book.
Council tax bands in England are still based on 1991 values and in Wales on 2003 values, so some were wrong from the start. Here is how to check yours, what evidence the Valuation Office accepts, the real risk that a challenge moves bands up and the discounts worth checking first.
