For buyers of a house or flat that needs work
Buying a Property to Renovate in London: Where to Find One, What It Costs and What to Check
Sviatoslav JerdetchiiCEO & Founder of Craftex. Updated , 8 min read
The short answer
A property to renovate is a house or flat priced below its neighbours because it needs work. It is only a good buy if you know the cost of the works before you offer, not after you exchange.
- Find them through portal filters such as "needs modernisation", auctions, probate sales and agents' off-market lists.
- Budget £1,050 to £2,800 per m² for the works at our 2026 rates, depending on how deep the renovation goes.
- Get a Level 3 survey and check structure, damp, roof, electrics, drains, asbestos, party walls and planning.
- Offer from the value after works, less the works, contingency, fees and buying costs.
A property to renovate is a house or flat sold for less than its neighbours because it needs work. That can mean a new kitchen and decoration, or a rewire, a new roof and structural repairs. It is only a bargain if you know what the works cost before you offer.
This guide is for buyers looking at a London home that needs work, whether you plan to live in it or add value and sell. It covers where to find one and what the works cost at our 2026 rates. Then come the checks to make, and how to turn them into an offer.
We are a design and build team for home renovation and refurbishment in London. Looking at one now? Send us the listing and we'll price the works before you offer.
Where to find a property to renovate, from doer-uppers to probate sales
Homes that need work are rarely labelled as such. Buyers call them doer uppers. Agents use a handful of code words instead, and the best homes never reach the portals at all.
On the portals, search the keywords rather than a filter: "needs modernisation", "in need of renovation", "doer-upper", "cash buyers only" and "probate sale". "Cash buyers only" often means a lender has already refused the property, so read it as a warning about the condition.
| Route | What you find | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Portals (keyword search) | Doer-upper houses and flats with full particulars | Competition from every other buyer with the same search |
| Property auctions | Repossessions, probate and long-empty homes | You usually commit on the day, so survey and finance come first |
| Probate and executors' sales | Homes unchanged for decades, often sold as seen | Executors cannot complete until they hold probate |
| Agents' off-market lists | Homes sold quietly before marketing | You need to be known to the agent and ready to move |
| Long-empty homes | Houses vacant for years, sometimes via the council | Condition, squatting risk and the VAT rules on empty homes |
Probate sales move on the executors' timetable. GOV.UK tells executors not to put property on the market until they have probate, so a deal agreed early can still wait weeks to complete.
A home that has been empty for at least two years can have a lower VAT rate on the building work. Our guide to the 5% VAT rate on empty-home renovation explains who qualifies and the evidence HMRC wants.
What a renovation costs: our 2026 rates per m²
The cost of renovating a property depends on how deep the work goes, not on the asking price. Measure the floor area, decide which of three depths of work it needs, and you have a first figure.
| Depth of work | What it covers | Our 2026 rate per m² |
|---|---|---|
| Light refresh | Decoration, flooring, a new kitchen or bathroom, services kept | £1,050 to £1,500 |
| Full refurbishment | Layout kept: rewire, replumb, new heating, kitchen and bathrooms, joinery | £1,500 to £2,000 |
| Structural renovation | Back to brick: new openings and steels, new services, extensions | £2,000 to £2,800 |
| Basement | Priced per house after a structural and ground survey | On survey |
Take a 100 m² terraced house that needs a full refurbishment. At our rates the works come to about £150,000 to £200,000.
Listed fabric, top-end finishes and a basement push the figure higher. Design fees, surveys and consents sit on top. We take on renovations from £100,000, so smaller cosmetic jobs are better served by a local builder.
For the same rates by house type, with VAT, fees and a worked example, read our guide to house renovation cost in London.
Planning a renovation of that size? See how our luxury home renovation team prices and builds it.
Eight checks on the building before you make an offer
A home that needs work hides its biggest costs behind plaster and under floors. These are the checks that move the number most.
- A Level 3 survey. RICS recommends its Level 3 Home Survey for a large, older or run-down property, or when you plan major works. A Level 2 survey is built for homes in reasonable condition.
- Structure. Look for cracks over doors and windows, bulging walls and chimney breasts removed without support. Movement needs a structural engineer before you offer.
- Damp and timber. Rising damp, leaks and rot in joists or roof timbers. Find the cause, not just the stain.
- Roof and chimneys. Slipped slates, failed flashings and leaning stacks. A new roof is one of the biggest single lines on a renovation.
- Electrics. An old fuse board, rubber or fabric cable and few sockets usually mean a full rewire.
- Heating and plumbing. An old boiler, lead or iron pipes and cold radiators. Budget for a new system in a full refurbishment.
- Drains. Old clay drains crack and collapse. A camera survey is cheap next to digging up a garden.
- Asbestos. HSE warns that any home built or refurbished before 2000 may contain asbestos. Have it surveyed before any strip-out.
Each of these can be checked on a visit before you exchange. A bad answer is far cheaper to hear before your offer than after.
Planning, listing and party walls decide what you can change
What you can do to the property matters as much as its condition. The plan you priced is worth nothing if the council or the neighbours can stop it.
Check three things before you count on any extension, new opening or loft:
- Listing. Works that affect the character of a listed building need listed building consent.
- Conservation area. Permitted development rights are narrower, so more work needs planning permission.
- Article 4 direction. The council can remove permitted development rights altogether.
Your neighbour has 14 days to reply in writing. No reply starts the dispute process, and surveyors then agree a party wall award. In a London terrace, allow for this in the programme from day one. Our guide to the challenges of renovating a house in London covers planning, building control and neighbours in more detail.
I and my husband are very satisfied with Craftex's service and customer support. We bought a house in Hampstead and wanted to redesign and renovate it. On our initial free consultation with Sviat, we found out that we actually can do loft conversion and rear extension and add value to the property straight away. We worked with the Craftex design team to bring our vision to life and deliver planning approvals. At that time guys started stripping out to save time on the construction programme as we wanted to move in ASAP. We worked with very experienced project director Konstantin who was responsible for all aspects of project delivery from design to construction with a very good eye on details and customer care. We saved a lot of money by having professional advice from the start. Project management and quality at Craftex are at the highest level. Many thanks to Craftex Team.
How to price your offer on a property to renovate
A good offer on a property that needs renovation is worked backwards from the finished home. Start with what the house will be worth when the works are done, then take off everything it costs to get there.
- Value after works. Use sold prices of renovated homes on the same street, not asking prices.
- The works. Floor area times the right rate from the table, after the survey.
- Contingency. Usually 5% to 10% of the works. Older and more altered homes sit at the top of that range.
- Fees and consents. Design, structural engineer, building control, party wall surveyors and planning if needed.
- Buying and holding costs. Stamp duty, legal fees, finance and council tax while nobody lives there.
- Your margin. If you are investing, the profit that makes the risk worth taking.
What is left is the most you should pay. On the 100 m² example, works of £150,000 to £200,000 plus a 5% to 10% contingency mean £157,500 to £220,000 to fund before any fees.
Mortgages for a property that needs work
Many homes sold as "cash buyers only" are hard to mortgage as they stand. Lenders often refuse a home without a working kitchen or bathroom, or with serious structural defects.
Buyers usually take one of three routes:
- Cash, then a mortgage once the home is habitable.
- A bridging loan, short-term and more expensive, repaid by a mortgage after the works.
- A renovation or refurbishment mortgage that releases money in stages as the work is done.
Whichever route you take, lenders usually want a schedule of works and a builder's quote before they release money. A priced scope from the team that will build it answers that question. Speak to a mortgage broker about which route fits you.
Our guide to renovation mortgage and refurbishment loans explains each route, what makes a property unmortgageable and the pack lenders ask for.
When a renovation is really a development
Some properties to renovate are worth more as something else. Think of a large house that can become flats, or a building with room for an extra storey. That is a development, not a renovation.
The numbers change when it does. Planning, the number of homes and the sale values decide the price, and the build is only one line. Looking at one of those? Our development land and site sourcing team works for buyers on schemes from £3M gross development value.
Our guide to investment property in London shows the main value-add routes: conversion, extension and change of use.
How we price the works before you offer
Send us the listing: the particulars, photos and floor plan. We tell you which depth of work it looks like and what to look for when you visit.
Then we walk the property with you before you offer. Our team checks the structure, services and what planning will allow. You get a priced scope by package, from the people who would build it.
If you buy, the same team designs, consents and builds the renovation. Around 60% of our labour is in-house, and every project we have delivered has finished ahead of programme and on budget. At Herbert Crescent in Knightsbridge, we refurbished a 450 m² house in 32 weeks.
We take on renovations from £100,000 to £10M and above, across London. Use this list before your next viewing, then send us the listing before you offer.
Before you offer on a property to renovate
- Floor area measured and the depth of work agreed: light, full or structural
- Works priced at a rate per m² and checked on a visit
- Level 3 survey booked, plus drains, structure and asbestos where flagged
- Listing, conservation area and Article 4 checked with the council
- Party wall notices allowed for in the programme
- Contingency of 5% to 10% added to the works
- Finance route agreed with a broker before you bid
- Value after works taken from sold prices, not asking prices
