What to actually look at when you view a Luxembourg apartment

A viewing in Luxembourg lasts about twenty minutes, usually happens on a weekday afternoon in good light, and is designed to show the property at its best. That is not a criticism, it is what a viewing is. The buyer's job is to spend those twenty minutes on the things that cost money later rather than on the things that are easy to notice, and the two lists are not the same. Kitchens are noticed. Facades, works funds and flight paths are not.

Before you go

• Check the energy class in the listing, and the year of construction.
• Look at the address on a map, including what is immediately behind and beside the building.
• Check the tram, bus and rail position and the actual walking time, not the claimed one.
• Note the orientation. A north-facing living room in Luxembourg is a different product from a south-facing one, particularly between November and February.
• Ask in advance for the co-ownership documents if it is an apartment. An owner who has them ready is a good sign in itself.

The building, before the flat

Spend the first three minutes outside and in the common parts, because this is where the expensive information is.

• The facade and the roof line. Cracks, staining, patched render, missing pointing, rusted balcony rails.
• The entrance, the stairwell and the corridors. A well-maintained common area means a functioning co-ownership; a shabby one means either no money or no agreement.
• The letterboxes and the bins. A small thing that tells you how the building is run.
• The cellar and the technical room. Look at the boiler, its age, and whether the space is dry.
• Bike and pushchair storage, which determines whether the hallway becomes a battleground.
• The lift, its age and its capacity, and whether there is one at all.
• The car park. Ramp width, bay size and whether a modern car actually fits.

Inside: the things that cost money

• Windows. Single, double or triple glazing, the frames, the seals, condensation between panes. Windows are the most common cause of a poor energy class and a substantial replacement cost.
• Damp. Look behind furniture on external walls, at the base of walls, in the corners of ceilings, behind wardrobes and inside built-in cupboards. Fresh paint on a ground floor or an external wall is a question, not an answer.
• The bathroom. Grout condition, the shower enclosure seal, whether the extraction actually works. Hold a tissue to the grille.
• Water pressure and hot water. Run a tap. It takes ten seconds and nobody does it.
• The consumer unit. Its age tells you whether the electrical installation has been touched this century.
• Heating. System type, radiator condition, and whether every room has heat.
• Floors and ceilings. Levels, cracks, and the sound underfoot.
• Storage. Count it honestly, and remember a full cupboard means there is not enough.

The things you can only assess by standing still

• Noise. Stop talking for a full minute in the main room. Traffic, neighbours, lift machinery, the boiler, a ventilation unit.
• Light. Which rooms have direct sun and at what time. Ask what it is like in December.
• Smell. Damp, drains, cooking from a neighbour, a bar below.
• Mobile signal. Check it in the rooms you will work in.
• What is above, below and beside. A family with young children, a lift shaft, a commercial unit, a late-licence venue.

Then come back in the evening. A second visit at nine at night, standing on the pavement, tells you more about a Luxembourg address than the first viewing did, and it costs nothing.

The questions to ask, in order

• Why is it being sold, and how long has it been on the market?
• What are the monthly co-ownership charges, and what do they include?
• What works have been decided at general meeting but not yet carried out?
• What is in the works fund?
• Have there been water damage claims in the building?
• What is the energy class and what drives it?
• What is planned on the neighbouring plot?
• Is the parking space included, and is it sold separately?
• What exactly stays: kitchen, appliances, blinds, light fittings?

The answers matter, and so does the manner of answering. A vendor or agent who can produce the minutes and the accounts on request is running a clean sale. One who cannot is either disorganised or is hoping you will not ask again.

The second visit

Anything you are serious about deserves a second viewing, and it should be different from the first.

• Go at a different time of day, ideally in the evening or early morning.
• Take someone who will be unimpressed.
• Bring a tape measure and check that your furniture fits, particularly beds and wardrobes.
• Photograph everything, including the technical room and the cellar.
• Bring a builder if the property needs work, before the compromis rather than after.
• Read the minutes and the accounts between the two visits, not after the offer.

The neighbourhood, in the fifteen minutes after the viewing

You are buying a street as much as a property, and the street is not shown at the viewing.

• Walk to the nearest tram or bus stop and time it honestly, in the shoes you would actually wear.
• Walk to the supermarket, the bakery and the pharmacy.
• Look at the parking situation at the hour people are home, not at two in the afternoon.
• Note what is on the ground floor of the buildings around: a bar, a restaurant with an extraction unit, a nursery, a busy shop.
• Look for construction sites and empty plots nearby, and ask the commune what is consented on them.
• Check the flight path if you are on the eastern side of the city.
• Come back at nine in the evening and stand on the pavement for five minutes.

Nobody regrets the evening visit and a great many buyers regret skipping it. It is fifteen minutes against a decision that lasts a decade.

Three questions we are asked

Should I get a survey?

There is no equivalent of the standard British survey in a Luxembourg transaction, and the notary checks the legal position rather than the fabric. For anything older, unusual or requiring renovation, paying a builder or an architect for a visit before the compromis is money well spent and is not standard practice, which is precisely why it gives you an advantage.

How many properties should I see before offering?

Enough to calibrate, which for most buyers is somewhere between six and a dozen in the same segment. Fewer than that and you have no reference for what the money buys; many more and you are usually avoiding a decision rather than gathering information.

What is the single most overlooked item?

The co-ownership file. Buyers spend an hour on the kitchen and no time on the minutes, the accounts and the works fund, and it is the works fund that produces the unexpected five-figure call two years after completion.

How we work on this

We go through the co-ownership file with buyers before an offer rather than after, because that is the document that changes the price. It is also the one most sellers have not read themselves.

For inside: the things that cost money, measurement is often more revealing than opinion. For the question raised by “Inside: the things that cost money”, the useful detail is not a generic list of advantages.

For the questions to ask, in order, this is especially useful because the first impression can be misleading.

Every strong property choice contains a trade-off, and the things you can only assess by standing still is no exception. For the question raised by “The things you can only assess by standing still”, the useful detail is not a generic list of advantages.

For the question raised by “The things you can only assess by standing still”, the useful detail is not a generic list of advantages.

A stronger reading of the things you can only assess by standing still starts by asking what would change for the resident on an ordinary weekday.

For the neighbourhood, in the fifteen minutes after the viewing, ask which qualities will still matter after furniture has been moved in, the first season has passed and the household has settled into its normal schedule.