Where our data comes from

Every answer on BeforeIBuy is built from public and open data, and lists its main sources and a data date. Here is where the data comes from, and the licences we use it under.

Open Government Licence

Most of our data is public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. In plain terms, that is government data anyone may use, including commercially, as long as it is attributed.

What powers each section

• Property prices and sales: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, and its register of land owned by companies.
• Price trends: the UK House Price Index, from HM Land Registry and the Office for National Statistics.
• Council tax bands and local premises: the Valuation Office Agency council tax and business rates lists.
• Energy performance: the Energy Performance Certificate register.
• Crime: police.uk and the Home Office.
• School inspections: Ofsted inspection outcomes.
• School results: Department for Education school performance and census data.
• Flooding: the Environment Agency flood zones, flood risk, recorded flood history and shoreline management plans.
• Sea level: tide gauge records from the UK National Tide Gauge Network, run by the Environment Agency and published under the Open Government Licence, obtained from the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level at the National Oceanography Centre.
• Journey times and buses: Department for Transport journey time statistics, bus stop (NaPTAN) and bus timetable data.
• Electric vehicle charging: Open Charge Map, the community register of public charge points.
• Broadband and mobile: Ofcom Connected Nations coverage data.
• Planning applications: each local council's planning register, which we summarise as counts and outcomes.
• Listed buildings and conservation areas: Historic England heritage data, including the National Heritage List for England.
• Ground conditions: British Geological Survey ground hazard data, such as shrink and swell clay.
• Mining legacy: the Coal Authority (now the Mining Remediation Authority) coal mining data.
• Radon: radon potential mapping from UKHSA and the British Geological Survey.
• Air quality and noise: Defra modelled background air pollution, and its strategic noise mapping of roads and railways.
• Food hygiene: Food Standards Agency food hygiene ratings.
• Protected landscapes and nature: Natural England designations: National Landscapes, National Parks, SSSIs and ancient woodland.
• Green space: Ordnance Survey open data, including OS Open Greenspace.
• Cycle routes: the Sustrans National Cycle Network.
• Who lives here, and how they travel to work: the Office for National Statistics Census 2021.
• Rents, incomes and gardens: Office for National Statistics private rent, household income and garden access statistics.
• Care homes: Care Quality Commission ratings.
• Local health: the Public Health Outcomes Framework indicators on Fingertips, such as smoking and preventable deaths, for each local authority.
• Deprivation: the English Indices of Deprivation, from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
• Places and postcodes: the ONS Postcode Directory and Ordnance Survey open data.

Attributions and copyright

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, including data from HM Land Registry, the Office for National Statistics, Ordnance Survey, the Home Office, the Department for Education, Ofsted, the Environment Agency, the Food Standards Agency, the Valuation Office Agency, Ofcom, the Department for Transport, Defra, the Care Quality Commission, UKHSA, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Natural England, the Mining Remediation Authority and Sustrans.

• Contains HM Land Registry, Ordnance Survey and National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
• Contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026.
• Contains British Geological Survey materials © UKRI 2026.
• © Historic England 2026.
• © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
• Contains Mining Remediation Authority data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
• Charge point figures adapted from data by Open Charge Map contributors, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
• Contains public sector information from the UK National Charge Point Registry, licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0, adapted into charge point figures.
• Tide gauge data from the UK National Tide Gauge Network, operated by the Environment Agency and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, obtained from the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL): PSMSL (2026), Tide Gauge Data, retrieved May 2026 from psmsl.org; Holgate et al. (2013), New Data Systems and Products at the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level, Journal of Coastal Research 29(3), doi:10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-12-00175.1.
• Corporate ownership statistics derived from HM Land Registry data on UK and overseas companies that own property in England and Wales, July 2026 release. Information produced by HM Land Registry. © Crown copyright 2026.

You can read the full Open Government Licence v3.0.

HM Land Registry Price Paid Data is not the definitive record of a sale and may not reflect every transaction.

A note on accuracy

These sources update on their own schedules, so some figures lag by weeks or months, and a few areas have gaps. Each answer lists its main sources and a data date, and this page names the publisher behind each section and the licences that apply, so you can go to the original. We do not guarantee the data is complete or free of error.