The property record, already pulled.

A reference panel built into every Home.co.uk RICS Level 2 and Level 3 report editor. Keyed to the subject UPRN, it surfaces five data sources — property record, EPC certificate, environmental risks, estate agent listing with photos, and sold comparables — all fetched and cached automatically when you open a report. No separate logins, no government portal tabs, no copy-pasting from external tools.

Included as standard — not a separate add-on or pay-per-use feature. The drawer is built into both the Level 2 and Level 3 report editors, so every report you open has access to all five tabs. There is no additional charge for property record lookups, EPC register queries or environmental risk data.

A UPRN (Unique Property Reference Number) is the UK government's persistent identifier for every addressable property in Great Britain — a fixed numeric code that identifies a specific property regardless of how the address is written. It matters because it lets the drawer match your subject property precisely across multiple independent databases — the EPC register, our property database, sold price records and environmental risk data — without address matching that can return the wrong flat in a converted building. All five tabs are keyed to the UPRN where one is available.

Yes — many surveyors find this the most useful habit the drawer creates. Because data is fetched when the report editor opens, you can create the report the evening before and review the EPC, flood zone, radon band, contaminated land status and listing photos before you leave for site. You arrive knowing whether the property sits in Flood Zone 2 or 3 and can plan your element checks accordingly. Nothing replaces on-site inspection — but you go better prepared and transcribe less afterwards.

Yes — the UPRN covers all residential property types including leasehold flats. For flats, the property record shows the floor level, habitable rooms and EPC floor area specific to that individual unit rather than the whole building. Where an EPC exists for the flat specifically it is retrieved by UPRN exact match; where only a building-level certificate is available, the drawer notes this clearly so you can record the position accurately.

Yes. The EPC tab fetches the most recent domestic Energy Performance Certificate from the UK Government's OpenData EPC register automatically and caches it for 30 days per UPRN. You see every field your report needs — current and potential rating, floor area, walls, roof, heating, annual costs — without visiting the register separately. If no certificate exists, the tab shows an explicit not-found state you can record in your report.

The full dataset from the most recently lodged certificate: current energy rating (A–G) and efficiency score, potential rating and score, total floor area, property type and built form, construction age band, wall description and energy rating, roof description and rating, floor and window descriptions, main heating type and controls, hot water system, lighting, main fuel type, mains gas flag, annual heating, hot water and lighting costs in pounds, and CO2 emissions in tonnes per year. Where multiple certificates exist, the most recent lodgement is selected automatically.

EPC certificates for pre-1919 properties are often assessed under RDSAP, which relies on assumptions about construction type, wall thickness and insulation that may not reflect what is on site. For Victorian and Edwardian terraces in particular, the EPC wall description is a useful starting point but you should always verify construction on site and note any discrepancy in your Section D or E narrative. The drawer shows the registered wording precisely, so you have the certificate description to hand when recording a departure.

Yes — that is one of its key purposes. The EPC tab shows the registered certificate data: wall type, roof description, floor type, heating system and build age band. After the inspection you compare the registered description against your own observations field by field. If the EPC records cavity fill but you observed solid masonry, you note the discrepancy in your element commentary — with the exact registered wording you are departing from right beside you. Auto-populated fields are flagged with their confidence score so you can see which values came from the register versus your own photo summaries.

A manual EPC lookup means opening the Government portal in a separate tab, searching by address, verifying the correct certificate and transcribing the rating, floor area, wall description, heating type and annual costs — typically five to eight minutes per report. With the drawer those fields are pre-loaded when the editor opens. Add the flood-map, radon and listing lookups it also replaces and most surveyors reclaim around fifteen minutes of portal time per report.

Flood risk (rivers and sea), surface water flooding, subsidence risk, radon risk, contaminated land and ground stability — each expressed as low, medium or high severity rather than a raw technical score. When you run Otto auto-mode, these values write the Section C local environment paragraph, including the correct Flood Zone designation and the standard radon advisory.

The Environment Agency designation — Zone 1 (low probability), Zone 2 (medium) or Zone 3 (high) — along with surface water severity, presented in the same terms used in RICS Home Survey Standard Section I. Otto auto-mode drafts the correct zone wording and the standard advisory recommending the purchaser seek specialist advice before legal commitment into both the Section C environment paragraph and the Section I narrative. You review and adjust before sign-off.

Section H covers legal issues relating to the site and its surroundings, including ground conditions. The Risks tab shows the subsidence classification — low, medium or high — plus contaminated land and ground stability, sourced via the property UPRN. It gives you an authoritative reference without opening a specialist search tool; it does not replace a full specialist environmental search, but it flags the properties where one may be particularly warranted so you can recommend it clearly.

The most recent estate agent listing for the subject property. For properties listed through Home.co.uk's agent CRM feeds, it matches by UPRN exact match and includes up to 40 gallery photos with captions. For properties in listing archives only, it shows the text description and key metrics matched by postcode and street name — and labels the match quality (exact UPRN, house number, or street-level) so you can judge the confidence of what you are looking at.

Yes. The Comps tab shows recent sold and rental comparables within a 1-mile radius — a quick sanity-check while you write. For a full weighted valuation with adjustable comparable selection and a formatted comparison table, use the dedicated Comparable Sales tool — both are included in the account.

Otto auto-mode uses the drawer's UPRN and EPC data, Image AI photo summaries and the listing description to synthesise all nine Section C fields in one pass, each with a confidence score and source citation. For properties with an EPC, a CRM listing and categorised photos, Section C can be completed in under two minutes. See the Otto page for the full pipeline.

Yes — it is built into both editors. For Level 3, the EPC's detailed construction data (wall type and insulation, roof construction, floor type, heating system and controls) provides a cross-reference for the condition element narrative across Sections D–G, and the environmental risks support the more detailed Section I risk narrative expected at Level 3.

The Standard requires specific property attributes in Sections A and C and reporting of known environmental risks in Sections H and I. The drawer assembles the principal reference sources for those sections: the UPRN-keyed record and EPC for construction data, and the risks panel for flood zone, radon and contaminated land. You remain responsible for on-site verification and professional judgement — but you arrive at the keyboard with the reference data already loaded rather than assembling it from portals after the inspection.

A documented source for every factual statement is good practice from a PI perspective. The drawer records the data source — EPC register, property database, listing archive or environmental risk data — and a retrieval timestamp for each fact it surfaces. If a claim ever challenges a factual element of your report, the log provides clear evidence of the authoritative source relied upon and when it was consulted. On-site verification and sign-off remain yours.

Property record and environmental risks: cached 1 hour per UPRN. EPC certificate: 30 days. Listing and coordinates: 1 hour. Each source caches independently — a freshly lodged EPC does not invalidate the risks cache. Need a forced refresh? Clear the report's cached data from the report settings panel and the drawer re-fetches everything.

The drawer handles missing data gracefully. Without a UPRN, the record, EPC, risks and comparables tabs show an unavailable state with a clear explanation. With a UPRN but no EPC, the EPC tab shows an explicit not-found state — itself useful to record in the report. The listing tab falls back to a labelled postcode and street-name search, and the Section C auto-populator will still run on categorised image summaries alone.

Even with no sold history, the record shows the predicted floor area and construction age band registered against the UPRN — a baseline to compare with the developer's specification. If an EPC has been lodged (required for new-build dwellings before first occupation), the EPC tab shows the predicted rating, specified heating system and construction details. The risks tab is particularly relevant for new-builds on brownfield sites or in flood-risk areas. Pairs naturally with the Snagging Report Builder.