| Maporama | Excellent map site - enter a place name or postcode and you'll get a zoomable map of the area. |
| Multimap | Excellent map site - enter a place name or postcode and you'll get a zoomable map of the area. |
| Streetmap | Excellent map site - enter a place name or postcode and you'll get a zoomable map of the area. |
| ViaMichelin | Excellent map site - enter a place name or postcode and you'll get a zoomable map of the area. |
| Upmystreet | Type in a postcode and the search engine will use official statistics to profile the neighbourhood - like crime rates, exam results, and property prices. |
| Neighbourhood Search | Another postcode checker to give you some idea of what the neighbourhood is like, what the typical house type is, and what financial risks might be associated with it. |
| Neighbourhood Statistics | Government-funded website (based on Office of National Statistics data from the 2001 Census) intended to let you check out local areas with detailed statistics for a range of subjects including population, crime, health and housing. You can access statistics according to postcode, town or city name, as well as being able to search by subject for an overview of the best and worst that the UK has to offer. You can also compare areas. |
| NeighbourScan | Neighbourhoods rather than neighbours, actually. Another of the useful paid-for search tools (prices from £350) that can help you assess a potential area. This one includes some people problems (including the proximity of paedophiles and peeping toms, it is claimed) as well planning blight, flood risks, parking problems and more. |
| PrimeLocation | Property locator site including a useful Your Neighbourhood page - local info on property prices, council performance, schools and local services, plus links to IAmMoving, Homecheck and UKVillages. |
| Homecheck | Get a free online report on your new property. Find out about hidden risks such as old landfill sites, flooding, subsidence, radon, toxic sites and contaminated land. |
| Environment Agency | Loads of information about potential problems in specific areas - including the proximity of landfill sites and possible flooding problems. |
| Good Schools Guide | Proximity to a decent school is a major issues for many families. This site has assembled all the public information that it can find on UK schools, many with short reviews; basic info on exam results and the like is free, otherwise you'll have to pay to subscribe. There were 648 schools covered last time we looked. |
| Land Registry | The Land Registry records the ownership of registered land in England and Wales. This site provides has information and forms; you can't get at ownership details for particular properties, but there is a useful property price database where you can find average prices of residential property in England and Wales. (For information about Land Registration in Scotland go to the Registers of Scotland.) |
| Mouseprice | Online valuation service - can calculate the current value of any property in England and Wales provided it has been sold or valued since1 April 2000. |
| E-valuations | Anohter online valuation website. You can choose a valuation based on any or all of Land Registry Data, Estate Agent opinions and local property market analysis. Prices from £50 to £100. |
| HousePriceCrash | As the name implies, this excellent independent site aims to counterbalance to the huge amounts of positive spin the housing market receives and to provide up to date data and commentary. It's fascinating stuff, meaty and (in the blog) opinionated. |
| ReallyMoving | Useful free collection of paid-for links covering buying, selling, financing, moving, and more. |
| UKvillages | Free service to villages and local communities in the UK. Lots of local info and opinions; not everywhere is covered, though |
| WorkHomes4Sale | A website that does exactly what it says on the tin - it provides a searchable nationwide property listing specifically for "homes with the facilities, space, annexes, land or other potential for a home-based worklife". It's still early days yet, so it could do with a few more entries, but it's a good idea and a fresh, clean, easy-to-use site. |