How do you read a HOUSINGFAX home report in five minutes?

The reading order, in five minutes

The HOUSINGFAX report has 22 checks and is designed to be read in five minutes: first the cover, then «The essentials», then the table with the traffic-light rating of all 22 checks and, only where there is something to look at, the detail of each one. At the end come the points to check, the annexes, the sources and the limits.

You do not need to read it from start to finish. If you have a viewing tomorrow, the cover, «The essentials» and the points to check are enough. If you are about to make an offer, also read every check marked ⚠ and any ○ that matters to you.

1. The cover: make sure it is your home

Before anything else, check that the report is about your home: cadastral reference, street, property type, floor area, year of construction, number of units in the building and the aerial photo with the plot. If you ordered the report for the whole building, you will see the plot's data; if you ordered it for one flat, you will see that unit's.

The identity data come from the Cadastre (Catastro), which does not show the owner or the cadastral value because the law treats them as protected. The cover also carries the report's date and number, a key to reading the data and an index linking to each section.

2. «The essentials»: the verdict in one sentence

This is the whole report summed up in four to eight sentences. It opens with an overall verdict and groups up to three findings: Attention (something that calls for action or affects the purchase), Good to know (useful context with no immediate action) and No data (the most important thing that could not be checked).

If there is a reference price, it appears here in one sentence, and the section always ends with a line on limits. It is written automatically from fixed texts and the facts already checked, without artificial intelligence: it cannot add figures, sources or dates that are not in the report. Paid reports also get a separate AI summary, which explains the report by priority and in plain language shortly after it arrives.

3. The traffic-light rating: ✓, ⚠ and ○

✓ no alert means the source answered and there is nothing to flag: for example, the plot lies outside the mapped flood zones. ⚠ worth noting means there is something that calls for a check, an action or affects the purchase. ○ no data means the source did not answer that day, does not cover that area or the check is not available yet.

The most important rule in the report: a ○ is never a ✓. No data does not mean no risk. In the Essential report, check 01 may also show 🔒: the building's register entry exists, but that data only comes with the Complete report.

4. The 22 checks, by group

The building: 01 building condition assessment, 02 risks by year of construction, 03 aluminosis, 04 asbestos, 05 cadastral record and 06 energy efficiency. Price and land: 07 price and market, 08 land history, 09 land classification. Natural hazards: 10 flood risk, 11 geology and drainage, 12 seismicity, 13 ground movement, 21 wildfires and 22 radon gas.

The surroundings: 14 surroundings and noise, 15 site constraints (watercourses, high-voltage lines, industrial estates), 16 industrial facilities, 17 recorded crime, 18 hours of sunlight per façade, 19 roof solar potential and 20 climate and light pollution.

Every card reads the same way: a question as its title (for example, «Is it in a flood zone?»), a strip with the short verdict and the key figure, a visual block (bars, scales, maps or data cards), a short text explaining the verdict with its source, a «What to check» box and, at the foot, the source and date of the data. «See more» takes you to the annex with the full figures and references.

5. Two reading examples: flooding and radon

Flood risk (10): the report crosses the plot with the official maps, which cover medium-probability (return period of 100 years or more) and low-probability (500 years) scenarios. If the plot lies inside a zone, you will see ⚠ with the scenario; if it lies outside, ✓ with the distance to the nearest zone when one is close. Being off the map means there is no mapped zone at that point, not that the plot cannot flood.

Radon gas (22): the Nuclear Safety Council's map marks zones where a significant share of buildings exceeds 300 Bq/m³. The report tells you which zone the municipality is in and what to do, but it does not measure your home: to know the real concentration you need to measure over a period of time.

6. Check 01: the building's condition

This is the most valuable check when the data exist. It summarises the building inspection (ITE or IEE in Spanish) recorded in the regional register: date, result, defects with the element affected (façade, roof, structure…) and repair deadline, validity and accessibility. Today the Complete report includes it in the Valencia region, the Basque Country and Madrid; in the Valencia region, for example, the inspection is compulsory for buildings over 50 years old and valid for ten years.

How to read it: a favourable inspection means no defects were recorded on that date, not that the building has none or that aluminosis is ruled out. Defects with urgent deadlines usually lead to works and special levies (derramas): ask the owners' association whether they have been approved and who pays.

7. Points to check: your list for the viewing

This is the most practical part: at most eight concrete actions, split into «By signals» (they come from a check marked ⚠, with the supporting figure in brackets) and «Worth checking» (general due diligence and the most important ○). For example: ask for the owners' meeting minutes, the registered energy certificate, which in a sale is attached to the contract, or a radon measurement.

Take it to the viewing, printed or on your phone, and to your conversation with the seller. Together with the methodology, which lists every source with its date, it lets you negotiate with facts.

8. Sources, dates and limits

«Methodology and sources» has a row per check with the official source, the validity of the data and the status of the query, plus the list of bodies and licences. If something looks odd, that is where you see where it comes from and how recent it is.

The report is private: it opens with a personal link and is not published anywhere. It is for guidance and does not replace an on-site technical inspection of the building; it helps you know what to ask, what to request and where to look before you buy.

9. Free, Essential or Complete: what changes

The free report is a web preview generated automatically from official data: you can read the cover and the title and rating of every check; verdicts, figures, texts and points to check are blurred and there is no PDF. The full analysis, the PDF and the AI summary belong to the paid report. The Essential report (€11) includes everything except the recorded condition of the building. The Complete report (€19) adds it when the regional register holds the inspection for that building.

The paid reports are a one-off payment, with no subscription or sign-up, and the PDF arrives within minutes. Before paying, compare with the sample report to see what each section looks like.