non standard construction

Sun

Just viewed a house for buying, agents told me that

"its is recently refurbished by a builder and is a non standard construction made of steel and concrete"

Any pros and cons of non standard construction and what does that exactly mean ??

cattie

I think you'll find there are some lenders who won't give a morgage on properties constructed from concrete.

I'm sure there will be someone along soon with more knowledge who can give a more in depth reply than I'm able to.

AndrewSmith

Hi,

There are generally two types of concrete construction.

First is pre-formed concrete blocks. This is where the concrete blocks are formed away from the site and then put together like a huge jigsaw on site. There are a few mortgage companies who will lend on this type of property.

Secondly is Poured Concrete. This is where the frame of the building is constructed of steel re-inforcing wires inside a wooden mould. The concrete is then pured into the mould on-site. It can be extremely difficult to find a lender who is prepared to lend on these types of property as, in the past, it has been said that they can suffer from 'concrete cancer' where the steel rusts and causes the concrete to break down.

Check with the agent for sure on what type of construction it is, and if the current owner has a mortgage on it, who is it with.

If you approach lenders, some will say no, some will want you to pay for a valuation, and send a surveyor out before they can tell you.

Hope this helps

Andy

Sun

Thanks Andy

As far as I know it is owned by a builder at the moment, who bought it about 6 months back and refurbished.

I will definetely enquire with agent in more detail.

Thanks Again !

Sun

tanith

Sun my parents owned a similar house and could not sell it , my sister eventually found a cash buyer but had to drop the price considerably.


Good Luck but take good advice about buying this property

Nikki

We have just sold our 1950's prefab with no problem. Put it on the market in august and moved into our new house in november. We sold it for £5k under the asking price. We got our mortgage with the abbey, they are one of the few banks that will lend on the type of prefab we had. Our was a Howard construction which is a steel frame and concrete build. We did alot of work to it as we knew they can be difficult to sell. There were also other prefabs on the same estate(known as orlits) which were unmortgageable as they have concrete cancer. On the plus side they tend to be cheaper then standard construction. Our prefab was also alot bigger than many standard constructions on the market(around 1100sqft) OP Just noticed you're in oxford where is it? mine was on Rose Hill.

AndrewSmith

NIkki,

you summed it up. Prefab houses are pre-cast concrete which is acceptable to some lenders.

The house Sun is talking about is Poured concrete over steel frame, which are not usually acceptable.

Andy

Nikki

Just had a look on Rightmove and the House I think Sun is talking about is on Barton, all the Prefab houses there are mortgageable. There are 2 types on Barton; Howard construction and I forget what the other one is called. The type of house I think he is talking about are bought and sold quite a bit, my OH's Uncle and Aunty also have a mortgage on one of these type prefabs as do many others on Barton. The only prefabs you will not get a mortgage on in Oxford are the 'orlits' on Rose hill and they are in the process of being knocked down and rebuilt due to concrete cancer.

Sun

Hi Nikki

The house I am talking about is in Headington. I will speak to the agent and will post exact details here.

But as a first time buyer I think I should avoid these properties.

Thanks

Nikki

You are probably right prefabs tend to be alot less desireable. Would be interested to see the details though and how much it's selling for!!