A London room viewing lasts ten minutes, and most people spend nine of them being polite. Listings are written to flatter; viewings exist to check. Here are the fifteen checks that matter, grouped so you can run them without a clipboard.
The Room Itself (Checks 1–5)
1. Damp and mould. Sniff first — musty beats visual inspection. Then look behind furniture, around window frames, at ceiling corners. Fresh paint on one wall is sometimes decoration and sometimes concealment.
2. The window question. Which way does it face, does it open, does it lock? North-facing rooms save on summer heat and cost you every winter morning.
3. Actual size vs listed size. Will your suitcase open with the door closed? Is there space for a desk you'd genuinely work at? Pace it out; listing photos use lenses.
4. Phone signal. Check your bars in the room, not the hallway. A dead-zone bedroom is a daily tax no listing mentions.
5. Noise, twice. Listen at the window (road? flight path? pub garden?) and at the door (is your wall the living-room wall?). If you can, walk past the building once at night.
The Flat and Building (Checks 6–10)
6. Water pressure and heat. Run the shower for thirty seconds. Ask when the boiler was last serviced — landlords must provide an annual Gas Safety certificate, so "recently" should come with paper.
7. The kitchen's honesty. A shared kitchen tells you how the household actually runs. Clean-ish and stocked beats showroom-sterile.
8. Security basics. Solid front door, working lock on your room, and — legally required — smoke alarms on every floor. Test button, two seconds.
9. Bins and post. Overflowing bins and a pile of previous tenants' post are small signs of how managed the building really is.
10. The commute rehearsal. Walk to the station after the viewing. "8 minutes to the Tube" is measured by estate agents in running shoes.
The Paperwork (Checks 11–15)
11. What exactly is included? Get the bills list in writing — WiFi, energy, water, council tax, and any usage caps. The bills-included decoder.
12. Deposit amount and scheme. The legal cap is five weeks' rent; ask the exact figure and which government scheme protects it (DPS, TDS or mydeposits). At Nook it's four weeks — one full rent period — and the scheme is named in the contract. Deposit rules.
13. Contract length and exit. Minimum term, notice period, break clause. A beautiful room on a rigid twelve-month contract is a bet on your year going exactly to plan.
14. Who fixes things? One phone number or a WhatsApp black hole? Ask how the last repair went and how long it took.
15. Why is the room free? Still the highest-information question in renting. A clear answer is a good sign; a rehearsed pause is data too.
After the Viewing
Sleep on it if the market lets you; verify deposit protection before transferring anything; and never pay to "hold" a room without written terms — holding deposits are capped at one week's rent by law. Viewing from abroad? The same checklist works over a live video call — here's how. Or skip to rooms where the answers are standard: every Nook room publishes price, inclusions and contract terms up front.
