Has anyone bought a non-standard construction Trusteel house with structural probs?

fairylight_2

Back in 2003 we bought a house which turned out to be non-standard construction Trusteel steel frame. We went to Northern Rock to mortgage it (on a together mortgage, another horrendous story), at no time were we notified that this house would cause us problems later down the line, the title deeds don't even mention that it is made of steel and could cause problems nothing!.. We now could potentially have major problems as it turns out that some of the houses are still council or housing association, and that they have had structual surveys done, which show up there could be major problems with the steel structure, which will have to be rectified in the next 4 years. They are obviously paying for the repairs to their houses, but who is liable for the repairs to privately owned houses, of which there are lots in our area. To our minds the council should never have sold these houses in the first place if there could potentially have been such problems. We are looking to find out if the council are liable as there was a total lack of disclosure at the point of sale, no documentation, nothing, and surely this would count as mis-selling, not fit for purpose and a host of other legal things. There was also an article from the 'Mortgage Council' which we have since found, written in 2002 to say that mortgage lenders had all been made aware of these problems, and should instruct a full structural survey on these properties before taking on the mortgage. At no time did Northern Rock ask us to do this. We are virtually in negative equity anyway and could not afford to do any repairs and are wondering which avenue to take (along with a host of other people). Anyone got any ideas please!

chambta

There could 'potentially' be problems with any property. Buyer beware I'm afraid - I assume you chose not to pay for anything more than the bank's basic valuation?

mbga9pgf

Have to agree with the above. Avoid paying for a full structural, you takes your chances. Any idea what the supposed structural snag is? It could just be the council overreacting or trying to spend its budget up on nonsense as they usually do; it would be cheaper probably to knock down and build again.

As an engineer, a stel truss is pretty darned solid, I have a number of steel RSJs in my house acting as lintels, they are undoubtedly the strongest part of the house. Ask the council what exactly is the issue. I would suggest whoever is carrying out the structural may be covering their @rse and insisting work is done that (probably) doesnt need doing. If they have stood for 50 years, what creates the urgency to mod over the next 4. If it is corrosion, you could have a potential issue, but just because one house has suffered, does not necessarily mean yours will.

I would suggest you are going to struggle to sell however.

Might be worth getting a retrospective structural or a structural engineer report done; will reduce your insurance (whom you will have to now notify due to nonstandard construction to prevent voiding home insurance).

fairylight_2

Thanks for the reply, however, this is a total steel frame which obviously has the steel supports based into the ground, which is where the problem is apparently occurring, which means that faulty materials have been used in the first place. If we had been warned that there could have been problems with the house, of course we would have had a full structural survey done, if we had been made aware that this type of property could have problems we would not have touched it in the first place, which makes it a lack of disclosure. This problem is apparently happening all over England which is why we are wondering if there could be a case for taking against the council as to liability for the payment of any work. There are going to be thousands of people in the same boat, we have only lived in the house for a few years, the work could cost thousands and thousands, there are going to be a lot of people going together in this case, which should back it!!

mbga9pgf

Sorry, the nondisclosure shouldnt be with the vendor. It should be with the surveyor, IF they were local and could have suspected that the prop was of nonstandard construction. The other potentially liable party would be the Estate Agent. But again, if you had a structural survey done, the fact that the property was of nonstandard construction would have been apparent. Are there no fixes rather than a full rebuild? If the issue is corrosion, a magnesium sacraficial anode attached to the steelwork could solve the problem getting worse. Whether these are used on buildings, I am not too sure.

Errata

Sounds like you're in a fix. Northern Rock at one point would give a 125% mortgage on just about anything, which is why it went bust. A structural survey would have uncovered what the construction was, but you decided you didn't need one. Finally - did you buy it from the council ?

fairylight_2

Yes we know there are solutions to the problem, they will (if there are any problems with attached houses, we are in a terrace) take the brickwork out at the bottom of the steel struts, and repair the steelwork) we know that, but the point is, who is liable to pay. The housing association houses, as usual are getting it done for free, whilst we, still in ex-local authority are expected to bear the brunt of what could be a very expensive and disruptive repair, what I am asking is whether anyone else has been through this experience and what their local council did about it. Bankruptcy, home repossession here we come if we are expected to fork out for it, and quite honestly don't give a monkey's anymore - the more you work (both full time) the more you get stuffed!!!

fairylight_2

Nothern Rock and our insurance company both know its a non-standard construction property. It doesnt look like we will be covered by the insurance though (have to ring on Tuesday) as its classed as faulty materials being used, which we would think it is, although why they even bother to ask if its non-standard construction, if they aren't going to cover you for these eventualities I don't know.

mufi

mbga9pgf wrote: »

Sorry, the nondisclosure shouldnt be with the vendor.

Correct, I'm afraid, unless you asked the right questions and were misled; pretty unlikely. Possibly there is some paperwork dating from the time of the sale wherein is stated the construction type?

Insurers ask you if it's non-standard construction prior to deciding whether to cover the property or not - presumably you told them what you thought at the time, ie standard construction?

ILW

Why did you not get a proper survey done before buying?

silvercar

Back in 2003 we bought a house which turned out to be non-standard construction Trusteel steel frame. We went to Northern Rock to mortgage it (on a together mortgage, another horrendous story), at no time were we notified that this house would cause us problems later down the line, the title deeds don't even mention that it is made of steel and could cause problems nothing!.. We now could potentially have major problems as it turns out that some of the houses are still council or housing association, and that they have had structual surveys done, which show up there could be major problems with the steel structure, which will have to be rectified in the next 4 years.

Sometimes the council accepts the liability for building sub standard materials and will foot the bill for putting it right. Ask them.