Buying: useful available online tools for research?

The Irish Property Bubble (2006) Sell, Buy or Rent?
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This may have already been covered in another older thread - if so then please direct me to it.

What useful online tools/websites are available for researching the property you are considering buying?
Or even some easily accessible off-line tools/ queries I can make with Corpo/Development bodies?

The sort of things I am thinking of are:

**For the area: **

  • Flooding
    I know of the website floodmaps.ie/ for example

  • Local Development Plan

  • Anti-social or civil order issues

  • Transport Plans/ reviews of local bus routes etc

  • Any service issues (water/ rubbish/ broadband/ telcoms/ on-street parking changes etc)

For the property:

  • Existing boundary issues / title / freehold etc

  • Previous or current planning permission issues or rejections

  • Previous structural issues

  • Any bank financing/debt issues with the property

  • Any previous insurance issues with the property (liable to flood/ cannot be insured because…)

  • Any listed or preservation required of building etc.

  • Any restrictions on what can be modified with property on street due to water/sewage/gas lines
    (only asking this one as a house that I viewed before had been renovated but the impractical small/cold bathroom was left at front of house and not moved to back when it was the obvious thing to do. EA mumbled something about previous owner having “looked at that”. Any reason why they might have been restricted in doing so? All houses on street looked to have bathroom in front - old council design?)

Please add more items to the list if I have omitted any other major or minor ones.
Please ignore any that are nonsense :laughing: I’m a beginner at this!
Sorry if some of these queries seem basic, but I’d appreciate any help / advice / useful links.
Thanks.

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  • Flooding
    myplan.ie/viewer/ - You can figure out the rough lay of the land, and the flood mapping layers will tell you where underground rivers and other risks are.

  • Anti-social or civil order issues
    Search the street name online. Check Google maps satellite view to see what’s around you, such as back alleys, industrial areas etc.

  • Any service issues (water/ rubbish/ broadband/ telcoms/ on-street parking changes etc)
    Broadband: Go to UPC and one of the DSL providers, put in the address and see what’s available

  • Previous or current planning permission issues or rejections
    Myplan again, and each of the councils has planning permission searchable online.

  • Any bank financing/debt issues with the property
    You can get the title deed online for €5 if it changed hands in the past few years, but that’s going to be a hint at best.

  • Any listed or preservation required of building etc.
    The various councils have lists online, also be aware of the Architectural Conversation Areas around where you’re looking to buy.

  • Any previous insurance issues with the property (liable to flood/ cannot be insured because…)
    Go to online brokers, check the quote. If it seems high, you might have a problem.

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Thanks. I really appreciate the help.

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Very interesting, thanks for that