Eleven things to check before you pay a deposit

Every house looks acceptable for the first ninety seconds. The problems announce themselves later — usually in month two, usually on a Sunday. This is the order our own team inspects in, built from checking houses across every quarter in Bamenda.

Run the tap before anything else

Not a glance at the tap — open it and let it run for a full minute. Ask where the water comes from: mains, borehole, or a tank somebody fills. Ask what happens in dry season. A house with beautiful tiles and unreliable water is a house you will resent by March.

Then the eleven, in order

• Water: source, pressure, and what happens when the mains fail
• Electricity: does every socket work, and is the meter shared
• The roof, from inside — look for staining at the corners
• Doors and locks, every one, including the gate
• Windows: do they close, and do they lock
• Bathroom drainage — pour a bucket and watch it go
• Kitchen ventilation and somewhere safe for a gas cylinder
• The approach road in rainy season — ask a neighbour, not the landlord
• Night security: who is on the compound after dark
• Neighbours: how many households share the plot
• Mobile network signal, standing inside the bedroom

Ask the neighbours, not the landlord

The landlord is selling. The neighbour has nothing to gain by lying to you. Five minutes of conversation at the next gate will tell you more about water, noise and security than an hour of viewing. Do it before you pay anything.

And never pay for a house you have not stood inside

This is the one rule that prevents almost every loss we hear about. Photographs can be honest and still not be the house you are being offered. Standing inside costs you a taxi fare. Not standing inside has cost people their savings.

What each failure actually costs you

The list is easier to take seriously when you know what skipping it costs.

The inspection in fifteen minutes

If you only have a short viewing, do these six in this order and you will catch most of it:

• Open the tap and leave it running for the whole viewing. Listen to it while you do everything else.
• Walk every room looking up at the ceiling corners.
• Plug a charger into every socket as you pass.
• Open and close every door, window and lock.
• Pour a bucket down the bathroom drain.
• Stand in the bedroom and check your phone signal.

Then step outside and ask one neighbour about water and the road. That is the whole inspection, and it takes about fifteen minutes.

Things that look bad but are not

• Faded paint — cosmetic, and useful negotiating material
• An old but functioning door — locks can be changed cheaply
• A bare kitchen — normal here, and cheaper than a fitted one you did not choose
• Cracked floor tiles in one corner — annoying, not structural

Things that look fine but are not

• A tap that runs strongly for ten seconds then fades — the tank is nearly empty
• Fresh paint in one corner of a ceiling — something was covered
• A newly cemented patch on a wall near the ground — often damp
• A compound that is unusually quiet at midday — everyone is out; come back at seven
• A landlord who will not let you speak to the current or previous tenant