Cavity Wall Insulation

taffy1_2

We are in the process of selling our house (in Scotland) and had an offer from a young couple (FTB's) which we accepted, great we thought.

Solicitors do the Missives etc, ball starts rolling, buyers surveyor comes round and reports that there is no problems with either our house or the valuation. Suddenly buyers Mortgage Lender refuses to lend due to the Cavity Wall Insulation.

Can anyone tell me what the problem is with Cavity Wall Insulation and why Lenders may be wary of it?

We never thought it would pose a problem as we took out 100% mortgage (we were FTB) 4 years ago on it and we had no problems.

Bit confused and !!!!!! off at the moment.

Manchester_Lucy

Mmm I can't understand that. We were recommended to get it done on the property that we're buying to save on heating bills.

I take it that you didn't get the work done yourselves? Did they cause any damage to the brickwork when it was done?

xzibit

Due you know what type of cavity insulation you have? Full/partial filled? How old is the propety? Has the insulation been upgraded?

taffy1_2

The property was built in the early 70's, it was an ex-housing authority house, to be honest i am not sure what type it is.

The work had already been done some time before we bought the house and no issue was made of it back then.

The outside of the house is a wet harl and when we bought the house you could see slight marks where they had drilled the holes but we repainted the whole outside of our property last summer so you can hardly see the marks.

It seems very strange the only possibility we can assume is our buyer was trying to borrow to much as in over a 100% other than that I do not know what it could be. I think their Lender was Northern Rock i don't know if they are picky?

I am getting worried what the reason may be because i do not want it cropping up for any other potential buyers as we have to sell soon to fund our new house (currently being built hence the panick).

taffy1_2

Manchester_Lucy wrote:

Mmm I can't understand that. We were recommended to get it done on the property that we're buying to save on heating bills.QUOTE]


The saving on the heating bills is great i would imagine, we hardly have to use our heating, just a quick blast in the mornings and when we come in from work.

barnaby-bear

taffy1 wrote:

We are in the process of selling our house (in Scotland) and had an offer from a young couple (FTB's) which we accepted, great we thought.

Solicitors do the Missives etc, ball starts rolling, buyers surveyor comes round and reports that there is no problems with either our house or the valuation. Suddenly buyers Mortgage Lender refuses to lend due to the Cavity Wall Insulation.

Can anyone tell me what the problem is with Cavity Wall Insulation and why Lenders may be wary of it?

We never thought it would pose a problem as we took out 100% mortgage (we were FTB) 4 years ago on it and we had no problems.

Bit confused and !!!!!! off at the moment.

60/70s construction often used steel ties to bind inside to outside, cavity can cause them to corrode - rot and affect structural integrity of certian construction types

http://www.ancon.co.uk/products3.asp?ID=52
http://www.surveyorsreports.co.uk/wall_tie_survey_report.htm
http://www.askjeff.co.uk/content.php?id=4

Cavity wall insulation shouldn't be used with some construction methods and even when it can be used - only certain types suitable - the fibrous type generally worse.

taffy1_2

barnaby-bear wrote:

60/70s construction often used steel ties to bind inside to outside, cavity can cause them to corrode - rot and affect structural integrity of certian construction types

http://www.ancon.co.uk/products3.asp?ID=52
http://www.surveyorsreports.co.uk/wall_tie_survey_report.htm
http://www.askjeff.co.uk/content.php?id=4

Cavity wall insulation shouldn't be used with some construction methods and even when it can be used - only certain types suitable - the fibrous type generally worse.

Thanks for the info, something to ponder. I think the root of the problem may be the fact no one seems to know when the insulation was installed, but our Solicitor is on the case anyway so hopefully it will sort itself out.

Tried to click the thanks button but it won't work for some reason!

matto

The only other possibility I can think of is maybe the insulation contains asbestos - very rare - but I would have thought they would have told you if this was the case.

silvercar

Sounds fishy to me. If they had concerns over the cavity walls, they would have contacted you to find out further information. Sounds like they had a different reason or got cold feet.

barnaby-bear

silvercar wrote:

Sounds fishy to me. If they had concerns over the cavity walls, they would have contacted you to find out further information. Sounds like they had a different reason or got cold feet.

True like no-one wants to say we didn't get our mortgage because we're too poor/untrustworthy/have debts.... however it is early 1970s ex-LA construction and some LA properties of that era have some very odd and cheap construction methods and tendency to use cheap ties or skip half of them out (scarily common), if it's an estate with lots of similar properties and there have been problems/insurance claims the lender will know about it regardless of the surveyors report. I'm an engineer but not a specialised civ. eng. so only basic knowledge of civ. eng.

taffy1_2

silvercar wrote:

Sounds fishy to me. If they had concerns over the cavity walls, they would have contacted you to find out further information. Sounds like they had a different reason or got cold feet.

We were contacted by their Solicitor asking for more information and we gave them all we could (admittedly not very much as we never had the works done ourself so therefore never received any papers etc with regards to it, and also we never had an issue with our Lender 4 years ago). Our EA spoke to the Surveyor who confirmed that there was nothing out of the ordinary he spotted, he only stated there was cavity wall insullation present.

I was of the same opinion that is sounds fishy but i would rather them say outright rather than me worrying whether this problem would affect other buyers also.

Our EA is phoning the guy back again tonoight to see whats happening as the buyer was meant to go back and see his advisor!