Mortgages on uninhabitable property

egazelle

Hello,

I am looking at buying a property which may be classed as uninhabitable. Upon viewing the property I was told by the estate agent that it was a repossession and the previous owners had essentially taken what they could, which has included the entire kitchen.

The estate agent also said that it would be nigh on impossible to get a mortgage for the house as it is considered as uninhabitable since there is no kitchen.

I was just wondering if anyone else had heard of this or had any experience of it? (The estate agent said that she had only found out on the morning of the viewing).

Any information would be welcome.

Thanks

Norma_Desmond

How ridiculous to label a property unmortgageable because of the lack of a kitchen!
This house was virtually a shell when we bought it 5 years ago and the kitchen consisted of a sink and the base unit; we had no problem with the mortgage.
Maybe things have 'tightened up' recently?
Sorry I can't be of more help.

junkmayle

I doubt the mortgage people would care. For all they know, you might have lots of welsh dressers or other freestanding units. Like Norma, we lived with just a sink unit for months, no problem.

Bongedone

I think I read somewhere here that the sink is the main issue.

Cazza

No, technically, it will be uninhabitable because of the lack of kitchen. Norma, generally, the rule that most mortgage companies have is that it needs a sink with running water to be classed as a kitchen, that's the big difference. I'm not completely certain if it needs hot and cold water, but it needs water.

OP, the way round this is fiddly, but possible. You apply for the mortage as usual. When the survey comes back, the valuer will tell the mortgage company it's uninhabitable and they will need to put a full retention on the mortgage. You ask the mortgage company to issue a mortgage offer with the full retention clause, you use this offer to exchange contracts and give yourself a nice long gap between exchange and completion.

After you exchange, you ask the vendor for access to the property, in order to do the bare minimum of work neccessary to get the retention lifted. The mortgage company will tell you exactly what needs to be done. Once it's all finshed, you tell the mortgage company to sent the surveyor out again for a reinspection (about £30 to £50), they will confirm the work has been done, retention is lifted, mortgage offer is reissued without the retention and you solicitor can then apply to draw done the funds for completion. Like I said, fiddly but perfectly do able!

egazelle

Thanks for the replies.

I got the impression that the sink was the main issue. If you have a sink, you have the basic service. Here there was no sink, and from what I can remember now, I think that pretty much all of the pipework had been ripped out as well, so it is classed as uninhabitable.

Im booked in to see the mortgage advisor this week, so will let you know what their opinion is.

bacard1

I to think it has to have a sink. Could you not have a word with the estate agent, see if they will allow you take a base unit/s with a sink fitted into the property (don't plumb it in(find a second hand one so fit fits in with the look)). You could then get the surveyor round and it might pass

Doozergirl

I think your mortgage advisors advice would be best to go on - worth seeing a broker on this one really.

It is true that without a kitchen it is unmortgageable but i think this rule is generally for older houses in a state of dispair - I wonder if you can get around this with some lenders if the ohouse was otherwise in a good state. Perhaps they may put less of a retention on it than 100%

G_M

When describing it as without a kitchen, are we saying there is no room that can be designated as a kitchen (I don't read the posting that way) or that the room exists but has not been fitted out as a kitchen. If the latter, well, lots of houses, especially older ones, do not have 'fitted kitchens'. And lots of vendors take their cookers with them. So it can only be the sink that is a requirement for mortgage otherwise all those properties lacking 'fitted kitchens' or cookers would be unsalable. And they're not.
So I surmise all you need is a sink.