Advice on finding a 90% LTV that allows open decking

onlychild

Dear all

We are attempting to buy a lovely (well, grotty but with potential) ex local authority flat, and are being thwarted because it has open decking ie the corridor to the front door runs along the side rather than the middle of the block and is open to the air. We had a mortgage for 90% LTV sorted with the post office but are now being told that it doesn't cover this open decking, and we can't find a provider who does. Does anyone have experience of this? Any advice on who we could try for a mortgage that would suit this kind of property?

Thanks

puddy

i dont understand that. do you mean that the walk way that you sometimes see on council flat estates which run along the front of the flats on each floor,, is at the side of the block??

i dont really know what difference that would make. are you sure that they will lend on someting that is ex council? is that the problem, or is it just the position of the walk way?

onlychild

It's a brick low rise ex council block which they seem to have no problem with. As far as we can work out it means the open walkway, and that seems to be what causing the problem. It's astonishing to us as it's in inner London where 90% of the housing stock in the borough is flats, many of them in blocks just like this; if you want to buy in this area, this is a pretty typical property, and still it's really hard to get a mortgage that doesn't have this "no open decking" rule. Or are we missing something?

Doozergirl

onlychild wrote: »

It's a brick low rise ex council block which they seem to have no problem with. As far as we can work out it means the open walkway, and that seems to be what causing the problem. It's astonishing to us as it's in inner London where 90% of the housing stock in the borough is flats, many of them in blocks just like this; if you want to buy in this area, this is a pretty typical property, and still it's really hard to get a mortgage that doesn't have this "no open decking" rule. Or are we missing something?

Some mortgage lenders don't like ex-LA. Open walkway ex-LA is pretty cheap housing stock and often not very attractive They will be concerned about resale value if they come to repossess with a high LTV.

Have you consulted a broker? This is where they come in handy with their knowledge of the market and products.

poppysarah

Maybe maintenance is a known issue with this type of block

silvercar

Think carefully, if you are having problems sourcing a mortgage now, who will your future buyer be?

withabix

It's the high LTV that's the problem here. Moire risk than the lender is willing to take on.

Low grade properties have a habit of suffering large falls in value in a recession.