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Land and site · Goals, land search and buying safely · site-3

Do due diligence before you buy

Confirm, with documents and tests, that the shortlisted land can legally and physically support your plan. Make your offer conditional on these checks where your local law allows.

How

  1. Title and access: have a qualified conveyancer, lawyer or title company check ownership, boundaries, easements, covenants and legal access. Hand zoning, permitted use and permit questions to the legal module (legal-1).
  2. Flood: print an official flood map extract for the parcel. Examples: in the US a FEMA FIRMette; in England the GOV.UK long term flood risk service, which covers rivers and the sea, surface water, reservoirs and (where data exist) groundwater, with separate services for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Note that unmapped land is not the same as safe land, and these area maps do not assess an individual property.
  3. If the land is in or near a flood zone, read design-27 before you buy: raising the floor and flood-resistant materials add cost.
  4. Landslide and subsidence: check national and state landslide maps, look for mapped past landslides nearby, and walk the land for cracks, sunken ground, water vanishing into holes and leaning trees or posts.
  5. Wildfire: check your regional wildfire hazard map and ask the local fire service what defensible space and access rules apply.
  6. Soil and septic: arrange a site and soil evaluation, and percolation test where your regulator uses one, by an approved person before purchase (see site-8 and site-9).
  7. Water: get well logs for neighbouring wells, and if the property has a well, a yield (pump) test and water quality test by a licensed driller or lab.
  8. Record every finding in one due diligence file and walk away from land that fails a non-negotiable.

Do these first

Sources

  1. Site and Soil Evaluation for Onsite Wastewater Systems (MF2645). Kansas State University Research and Extension, accessed 2026-11
  2. FEMA Flood Map Service Center: FAQs. FEMA, accessed 2026-11
  3. What is a landslide hazard map?. US Geological Survey, accessed 2026-11
  4. U.S. Landslide Inventory and Susceptibility Map. US Geological Survey, accessed 2026-11
  5. National Preparedness Month 2020: Landslides and Sinkholes. US Geological Survey, accessed 2026-11
  6. Septic Systems and Drinking Water. US Environmental Protection Agency, accessed 2026-11
  7. Protecting Your Private Well. Mississippi State University Extension, accessed 2026-11
  8. WTS-25: Soil Surveys. Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, accessed 2026-11
  9. Percolation Testing Manual. CNMI Division of Environmental Quality, accessed 2026-11
  10. Check the long term flood risk for an area in England. GOV.UK (Environment Agency), accessed 2026-11

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