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

MX5huggy

The only other thing I would try to dig up is the builders details, unless Mr x is a builder. Becasue you don't have to use council building control if they used a private company you could get the certs off them.

Mrsmoneypenny

We were looking at buying a new build which was finished but the builder had gone into administration, it was months of messing around trying to sort out the NHBC. Our solicitor couldnt do very much to help. I think your solicitor/mortgage lender could be a big factor in helping you make your mind up on this. I see that you are cash buyers and your "lenders" are your parents so make sure they are fully aware of the circumstances. We too bought both our children houses and would still steer clear of this. In the end we bought two houses either side of the one we originally looked at (both been preowned) and months later there are still problems with getting the paperwork fnialised on the first house. But ask your solicitor and make sure your parents are happy with the "risk" they are taking, also remember it isnt a bargain if it all blows up in your face.

Mrsmoneypenny

Another thought, if the estate agent isnt too helpful with your questions maybe they have something to hide, especially now when they should be more helpful than at any other time, you would think they would go out of their way to sell this one. And perhaps the fact that cash buyers are preferred would make me soooo nervous of this. Perhaps they know a bank/building society would not touch it with a barge pole.

Doozergirl

Honestly? It's a huge deal and there is a lot to sort out. You would have to lay down many conditions before this sale took place for you to be entirely safe. I don't know how responsive Northern Rock will be - the mortgagors prefer putting conditions on the buyers, not generally the other way around. I'm surprised it hasn't gone to auction, tbh, it doesn't sound like anywhere near approaching an open market house!

I've looked at buying an incomplete new build before but there were ongoing records with Building Control which we could have picked up from - there's still the issue around lack of guarantee which will make it impossible to sell for 10 years and I am almost certain that buildings insurance will be an issue without a guarantee.

Honestly, as a developer, I might be happy to build my own house and live in it for 10 years without a guarantee - I would know that things had been done correctly to the best of our ability - but even then the small possibility that something outside our control could happen and we wouldn't be able to get insurance would be something I might not be able to sleep easy about.

Investigate as much as you can but even I'd be wary about this one - and I'm pretty brave!

icebergx

Mrsmoneypenny wrote: »

Another thought, if the estate agent isnt too helpful with your questions maybe they have something to hide, especially now when they should be more helpful than at any other time, you would think they would go out of their way to sell this one. And perhaps the fact that cash buyers are preferred would make me soooo nervous of this. Perhaps they know a bank/building society would not touch it with a barge pole.

1) The EA might not have all the info to give. It's the repo company's resonsibility to get this but it can take time.
2) The fact that it's "cash buyers only" makes it 99% likely that it may be un-mortgageable in it's current state. As others have mentioned, there is a lot of risk involved in this sale so it makes sense for the EA to specify "cash buyers only". They're not necessarily hiding anything.

Layla_CK

Hello

Update - Mr X - who co-owned the house with his wife- went bankrupt in March 2008 (no record of her going bankrupt or them being linked to a company)

The previous owners submitted a building regs application in 2004, but nothing was followed on from that - then the plot was sold to Mr and Mrs X in 2005.

The estate agents have received an offer from another party which they have sent off to the bank.

We're 99% sure we are not going any further with this, but would like to find everything out and see if the other offer is accepted and how they would go about securing everything - just out of curiosity! lol

Thanks very very much for all your advice - much appreciated :beer:

GDB2222

Layla_CK wrote: »

The estate agents have received an offer from another party which they have sent off to the bank.

Every estate agent has his "mates" around. There's every chance the agent had this sold to a mate (for say half the advertised price) before it even went on the market. Then all the agent had to do is put off any other prospective buyers, and then put to the bank the only offer that has been made.

If you are interested in this property, put in an offer of a lot less than the advertised price. You are not bound by that in any way provided your offer is expressed as 'subject to contract' in any letter you write. Clearly, at the right price, this could be a great buy.

Layla_CK

Hopefully someone has an answer to the following??

If the council have not been out to sign off the build (at various or final stage) can this have been done by a private contractor/builder who then has the council inspect the end product?

Also, planning permission lasts for 3 years, if the approved building has not been built in that 3 years then permission is lost and has to be applied for again? What state of 'built' does the building have to be in to ensure that the planning permission hasn't run out? Built as in physically built or signed off by the council/NHBC?

Thank you:beer:

Doozergirl

Layla_CK wrote: »

Hopefully someone has an answer to the following??

If the council have not been out to sign off the build (at various or final stage) can this have been done by a private contractor/builder who then has the council inspect the end product?

Also, planning permission lasts for 3 years, if the approved building has not been built in that 3 years then permission is lost and has to be applied for again? What state of 'built' does the building have to be in to ensure that the planning permission hasn't run out? Built as in physically built or signed off by the council/NHBC?

Thank you:beer:

If NHBC are involved then I *believe* that their representatives sign-off also count towards building regs, but I think it's generally on larger new build estates. I cannot for the life of me remember where I would have read that, but gaining sign off for these insurance policies work much like building regs in that the work has to be inspected.

You might want to ask building control whether that might happen?

You only need to have started for the Planning Permission to stand. Essentially that means you can dig a hole in the ground for foundations for you to have started on the work. So your house does have the planning permission to be there.

WillowCat

As some other posters have mentioned, they may have been using a private company rather than the LA for building control.

Try looking at/posting on www.ebuild.co.uk - I think there's been a similar thread there recently.