Buying an Unfinished Brand New Build without a NHBC/Zurich cert

Layla_CK

Hello

I really hope someone can help myself and my husband.

We are prospective first time buyers who have come upon a brand new unfinshed house that was repossesed and is now for sale. The estate agent has been less than helpful with out questions

We have viewed the property and it appears that most of the house is finished - inc fitted kitchen and bathroom - (just needs painting, carperts and few cosmetic finishes) however we believe that it has not had the house electrics hooked up to the mains supply

The house is up for 79,950, estate agent said it was up for 125,000 however buyers could not get a mortgage on it as it has not been signed off/issued with the relevant certs hence the big drop in price as now only open to cash purchasers.

We are very interested in the house (potential help from parents as cash buyers) but are really not sure where to start - if it was repossesed can we trace the builder/developer in order to issue a cert, if not who would guarentee the work? Do we need to pay a surveyor to tell us a) if it has been finished correctly/safely b) is it worth finishing? We are loathe to pay out for a survey before making an offer as we are on a tight budget and are worried that the house will be sold before we can make an offer etc.

Hope I have not rambled on for too long ANY help/advice would be greatly appreciated:beer:

MX5huggy

Bit confused as what is happening here.

Who was the house repossesed from? the builder? has he gone bust can't imagine they would be much help if so.

How far off is getting the electric connected this can be very expensive?

Have buiding control been checking the build will they issue a compleatin cert or were they using NHBC controllers?

Layla_CK

Hi!

I don't have any answers I'm afraid - the estate agent showing us around was really rude and unhelpful. We do not know who it was repossesed from, not sure how far electrics are off - all internal fittings are in, and also unsure re building control.

Are these questions the estate agents have to answer or what we need to find out via a survey?

(sorry for sounding so dense - this is all new ground for us )

MX5huggy

These crazy estate agents! Its not like they can afford not to sell a house. They don't HAVE to do anything they are lazy people.

I would not get a survey at this stage it will tell you the power is not connected and that there is no compleation certificate. Which you know allready.

Electrics:- Is this a standard house in a standard street? do all the neighbours have electric?

Did you see the consummer board? (fuse board) did it have a meter? did it have wires to and from the meter? on the supplier side of the meter there should be a big fuse (black box). If it did not have any of this you are looking at a new connection to the grid which is the expensive bit.

Ring the local building control and ask them if they have been monitoring the build and if so what they need to check before they would issue a compleation cert. while your there ask if planning permission was granted and to see the plan have they built what was allowed?

sandiep

I recently had a new connection, it was around 4m from the mains in the road and it cost £1800. It took 12 weeks.

Start by looking at it the other way around. Assuming absolute worse, how much will it cost you to make it habitable, and what can you afford to spend to get it there.

icebergx

It's not always easy for Estate Agents to get all the info on a case where a property is repossessed. They rely on the info that is given to them by the repo companywho intern rely on their solicitors to track down the info from various sources.
The people who have been repossessed aren't always forthcoming with info (for obvious reasons) so it can take a long time to get answers to your questions.

If you have any tradesmen friends, they may be able to help you out inspecting electrics, plumbing, etc. otherwise you may have to shell out on someone going round to check them out for you.

Layla_CK

Many thanks for you replies

MX5Huggy - We did not check the fuse box, but am hoping to take parents (potential financiers;) ) round early this week, so will write down your info and take it with us to check. My husband will be ringing the planning office tomorrow with your questions - really hope we have some straight forward answers

Will report back any updates - thanks everyone:beer:

geoffky

name and shame the bloody fools

Gangstabird

If a new build does not have the 10 year NHBC guarantee (10 years - don't they think their houses will last longer) you are going to have problems insuring it. However, if you buy, finish it and get the certs done yourselves, what's the problem?

Layla_CK

Gangstabird wrote: »

If a new build does not have the 10 year NHBC guarantee (10 years - don't they think their houses will last longer) you are going to have problems insuring it. However, if you buy, finish it and get the certs done yourselves, what's the problem?

The problem would be estimating how much it would cost to ascertain what work needs to be done to get it signed off and how much that work will cost and if it is worthwhile our parents risking 80k cash for a property that may need 15k worth of work doing, but in this climate may only be worth 85k fully finished and signed off.

We shall see what the building/planning offices say and take it from there, if it requires too much we shall have to walk away

Gangstabird

Do you know what, and I really mean this. Unless one of you has experience in the building trade and knows whats wot - walk away. Please.