Legal diligence
Start with the legal pack. Check title, lease length where relevant, tenancy documents, special conditions, easements, restrictive covenants, overage, rights of way, and any unusual completion obligations.
If the pack raises questions, ask them early. Auction timelines are short, and ambiguity left unresolved before bidding usually becomes your problem after exchange.
Property and location diligence
View the property if you can. Understand layout, condition, access, neighbourhood, neighbouring uses, and any obvious capex issues. For land, check topography, access, services, and practical development constraints.
Also look beyond the lot itself. Local demand, resale depth, planning sensitivity, and tenant profile can matter just as much as the physical shell.
Financial diligence
Build an all-in number, not just a bid number. Include purchase price, SDLT, auction fees, legal costs, surveys, finance costs, refurbishment, insurance, and any holding period drag.
Then test the exit. What rent, resale value, or refinance outcome do you actually need for the deal to make sense?
Decision discipline
The goal of diligence is not to eliminate all risk. It is to understand the risk you are choosing. Once you know the real issues, you can either adjust your price or walk away.
That is a much better outcome than winning a lot because the process felt urgent and only discovering the real constraints afterwards.