About Rooph
I've spent about five years building software. Rooph started while I was looking at properties myself, reading one listing after another and trying to work out what each one left out.
Doing that properly takes hours per property, and most of what you need is public information scattered across a dozen different sites. Automating it was the obvious move, and once it worked for me it seemed worth building for everyone else looking.
Good information is hardest to come by the first time you buy. I wrote the checks behind each report as I worked out what to look for, and I keep adding to them as I find more gaps.
How a report is put together
A report starts with a listing URL and ends with a page of findings. In between, four things happen.
- The listing is read and archived. We take a copy of the page, the photographs, the floor plan and any attached documents, so what the seller claimed on the day you looked is still there if the listing changes later.
- The address is resolved. Checks are only as good as the address they run against, so this step happens on its own before anything else is looked up.
- Each check runs independently. No check can see another's conclusion. That is deliberate: it stops one uncertain finding from colouring the rest of the report, and it means a check with nothing to report says so rather than padding.
- The findings are laid out side by side. Every check carries its own source line. There is no overall score, no traffic light and no recommendation, because a single number would hide exactly the detail you are paying for.
Where the data comes from
Public and official records. Property data in the UK is devolved, so each check is pointed at the body that governs the country the property is in rather than at an England-wide default.
| Check | England | Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|
| Flood risk | Environment Agency | Natural Resources Wales, SEPA in Scotland, Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland |
| Planning history | The local planning authority's public register | The same registers in Wales, applications via ePlanning in Scotland, the NI planning register |
| Sold prices | HM Land Registry Price Paid data | Registers of Scotland, Land and Property Services in Northern Ireland |
| Council tax | Valuation Office Agency band, billed at the council's rate | Scottish Assessors, and domestic rates via Land and Property Services in Northern Ireland |
| Crime | police.uk street-level data | Police Scotland and PSNI reporting |
| Schools | Ofsted ratings and admissions data | Estyn in Wales, Education Scotland, the Education and Training Inspectorate in Northern Ireland |
| Broadband | Ofcom availability at the address, not the postcode average | The same, UK-wide |
The report names the exact source each finding came from, for that property, so you can go and read it yourself.
How findings are checked
Reports are produced automatically. That is what makes them cost less than a single conveyancing search and arrive in minutes rather than weeks, and it is also the honest limit on what they are. Three rules keep an automated report useful.
- A check that cannot find something says so. Silence about a missing record is worse than an empty result, because you would read it as a clean bill of health.
- Nothing is estimated into existence. If a figure is not published, it does not appear. We would rather a thin section than an invented one.
- Findings are separated from opinions. What a record says and what it might mean for you are presented apart, and the viewing checklist turns the second into questions to ask rather than conclusions to accept.
When we get it wrong
Public records are incomplete, councils digitise their archives to different standards, and an automated report can misread a source. It will happen. What we do about it:
- Email [email protected] with the report link and what looks wrong. Every correction is read by a person.
- The refund stands on its own terms: Money back within 24h, any reason. A report that was not useful costs you nothing, and you do not have to argue the case.
- Where a mistake came from a check rather than a source, the check gets fixed, and every report run afterwards benefits.
What a report is not
It is not a survey, and it says nothing about the condition of the building that is not visible in the listing. It is not legal advice, and it does not replace the conveyancing searches your solicitor will order once your offer is accepted. What it does is put the public record in front of you before you offer, while you can still act on it.
Who we work for
No portal, agent, or seller pays us. Every report is bought by the buyer, and the findings read the same whether they help the sale or end it. The data ethics page sets out what that rules out in full.
Get in touch
Questions, corrections, or a check you think we're missing: email [email protected]. Rooph is built and run by Rooph Ltd.
If you would rather see the work than read about it, the full sample report is the whole thing, and the guides walk through each check by hand.