Cornish unit

VKay · 26 February 2009 at 8:48AM

Am in process of buying cu house which was rebuilt in 80s to remove defective concrete so should be mortgageable. Waiting for valuation survey which will let me know one way or the other.

Feeling a bit anxious I might be making a mistake. It is a great sized 3 bed house with huge garden and garage- all the space we dreamed of but haven't found in our price range of 140-150k. BUT although we will get a full buildings survey will this give us a definitive answer about the life span of the house and are we mad to consider it? I feel really worried and have no one knowledgeable to talk to. Is there a stigma attached to these houses and are they hard to sell on?please give me your advice. Have you any experience in this area? Should we be walking away/ I don't mind spendnig £500 on full survey but is it going to give me peace of mind or will they just cover their backs and say we need more tests? Heeelp!

Richard_Webster · 26 February 2009 at 10:56AM

I think there are differences in the details of rebuilding PRC houses like this. Sometimes they only do 90% of the job, by removing the concrete panels and replacing them with brick but might leave some of the internal concrete beams in place. You will need to see any certificates and descriptions of works to see what was done to make sure that as many lenders as possible will lend on the property.

http://www.mdyson.co.uk/services/prc-housing-private-owners is a useful website - they may be able to tell you what needed/needs to be done to ensure mortgageability.

In general terms the bigger lenders such as the Halifax have tended to be more sympathetic to this sort of property, but if you have to go to smaller fringier lender for reasons related to your financial position, they may not be prepared to take the risk even if the maximum possible repairs etc have been carried out.

VKay · 26 February 2009 at 5:16PM

Thank you so much for replying! Well today i have rung 4 surveyors to get quotes for full buildings survey and i actually feel a bit better! All of them when i asked said they wouldn't run a mile from a cornish unit that has been rebuilt PROVIDING cetification is up to standard. So I'll wait and see... still haven't had valuation- that should give me a very clear indication of if i can proceed.

Thanks again Richard- anyone else got any advice?

Kez100 · 26 February 2009 at 5:41PM

So long as your surveys and reports come back OK then it is the price that talks.

Yes, most would sensibly run if it were priced at the same price as something traditionally built of the same size, but you are getting it cheaper because of that.

Obviously when you sell it will be the same - going to have to be cheap or you won't find a buyer and you have to hope they remain mortgageable.

I would run from all non-traditional builds personally as I cannot be doing with anymore hassle than necessary when selling. Having said that we bought a place outside of the mundic age and then they changed the mundic years to include our house build date for testing in the future - so by a stroke of bad luck we may one day be suck with hassle I wasn't contemplating.

VKay · 26 February 2009 at 7:54PM

Thanks Kez- guess yuo are in Cornwall then!

I feel reassured by the surveyors Ive spoken too but hadn't considered the house could become unmortgageable- aaahh! Wish I'd never seen it- great family sized house we can afford but am nervous...

Richard- would some lenders not give us a mortgage on a rebuilt CU?

Richard_Webster · 27 February 2009 at 11:53AM

Richard- would some lenders not give us a mortgage on a rebuilt CU?

Not sure, but my comment was based on experience with non-defective non-trad houses like Wimpey No Fines and Reema Conclad where because they are concrete some lenders just steer clear anyway. You wouldn't have a problem with these with say Halifax/Abbey/Nationwide/Woolwich etc but some of the smaller building societies might be fussier. So I'm speculating that the same view might be taken by these smaller lenders on fully repaired originally defective houses.

This could mean that when selling you might find a buyer who needs to get his mortgage from a smaller lender because he is stretching income multiples, has marginal credit history etc , and they decide not to lend on this property.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Cornish unit

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free