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

katepnlo

But you bought it from them? It's yours. I am sure they didn't know steel frame houses were going to be such a no no many years down the line.

I thought when ever anyone bought a house, you buy your own home, your own bit of security. But like everything else in life things can go wrong with age. When buying a property you take the good with the bad.

Yes the council tennants will get their repairs paid for, they only rent the property. It doesn't belong to them. That is the joy of renting.
You were in the position to take up Right To Buy and purchase your home at a massive discount...you buy the risk of things going wrong with the property too.

I'm sorry but i am shocked at how you come across in this post..
You bought the place,save up and have a repair done.

muskoka

I'm afriad this is buyer beware. The price you paid from the Council would have indicated that the property was non-standard contruction and presuming you purchased under right to buy, you would have been deemed to have been aware of the contruction of the property. (I'm assuming you were a tenant in same property).

The history of these non-standard contruction properties goes as folows:

Maggie Thatcher introduced the Right To BUy - lots of tenants purchased their property under the RTB. Obviously lots of tenants had purchased their non-contruction properties during this time. Can't remember exactly when, but sometime after RTB was introduced & tenants had purchased their non-standard houses, BRE became involved and the Government introduced options (specifically for these non-standard houses) and all tenants were given 3 options:
1) To re-sell to Council at current market value
2) To have property re-instated to standard contruction (under license and govt gave upto 95% grant to do this)
3) To have financial compensation because of non-standard contruction.

However, these options finished YEARS AGO! definitely.

Presuming you purchased the house at a reduced rate and you both are working, could you re-mortgage to have the house re-instated to a standard contruction? If you look at this latter option, bear in mind the work MUST be done under a special license & only about 8 companies in the U.K. can supply this license. You can have the work done by whoever you want, but an engineering co (that holds a license for this work), MUST be involved for you to get suitable certificate.

funkyparott

I'm in the process of purchasing a house. I've had the mortgage valuation which has passed with no conditions or recommendations.

I noticed the word 'TruSteel' on the valuation report. Thanks to the prominence of this thread in Google, I'm now aware of the implications of steel frames.

As a result I have spoken to my surveyor (I had instructed an independent home buyer survey in addition to the mortgage companies valuation) and he has recommended an intrusive inspection of the steel supports (especially around ground level), in addition to the survey he is doing.

From what I understand, a series of small holes is drilled in the house walls at various points and an endoscope camera is inserted to facilitate physical viewing to check for rust etc.

This is costing an additional £400 for a specialist engineers report, but given what I have read here, sounds like it is well worth doing.

Cheers
Al

funkyparott

Just a quick update.

I paid an additional £400 for a specialist structural engineer's report on the steel and everything has come back fine. From speaking to him, I understand there are some Trusteels in terrible state (ex-council mainly) but equally - there are many in a perfectly acceptable state. He also pointed out that we could just as likely run into potential problems with standard builds, had we purchased one.

Further more, in the event of rust occurring in the future near the base of the steel columns (known issue with TruSteel) - it is not a major expense to put right. I understand the structure is supported with jack, the rusty footing is cut out and a replacement welded back in.

I've tried a few insurers and it is true that not all will cover non standard builds, however Direct Line and Legal and General (nice cashback on Quidco) do. I've even phoned both companies and insisted that they phone through to underwriting to check steel frame is okay).
The insurance prices from the above are pretty much the same as we are paying at the moment on our current standard build.

I hope my experience is useful to someone. There are a few scare stories if you Google Steel Frame houses.

I think the important thing is to get a decent survey done (and a full survey would not cover the intrusive inspection element - thats extra).

I can understand how people could end up buying a TruSteel house without evening knowing it. To the outside, they look like any other house with brick walls and slate roof. It is only inside the loft that you get your first clue, from the steel beams.


Cheers
Al

geoffky

funkyparrot ....run a mile..your next buyer will stand no a hope in hell getting a mortgage because of these steel frames are now starting to show their age..The ones near me that are for sale tell you they are cash only sales..and that is fair warning.

funkyparott

Hi

I'm getting cold feet now.

I've just noted something on the homebuyer's survey. It was noted that cavity wall insulation looks to have been introduced. This was done in 1995 apparently. I hope this was done correctly, and not a company eager to get grant money. Most insulation sites say steel frame houses can't be cavity insulated.

I've had a chat with the surveyor and he suggests speaking to the structural engineer.
If you read half way down this link , you will see that introducing cavity insulation into a TruSteel is a definite no no.

I will wait to see what the structural engineer says. If there is any doubt, I'm going to insist the vendor pays themselves to have some bricks removed and a full inspection of the steel supports.

PS: the house was build in 1966, so I imagine it is either TruSteel MK II or 3M.

funkyparott

We have now pulled out of the sale.

Based on the chartered structural engineers findings. The property should not have been insulated in the Walls and this insulation would need pulling out. This would have meant no insulation. External cladding insulation can be applied but this costs thousands. BRE do not recommend externally cladded insulation on TruSteel houses so this would have had to be disclosed to insurers, and I guess would have made premiums rocket.

We have lost just over one thousand pounds in surveys and fees now. However I consider it well spent against a property costing the best part of 200k.

The moral here - check the loft before paying a penny to anyone. That's how the steel structure was first discovered.

geoffky

I think you have done the right thing..you were just storing up trouble for the future.......Was it advertised as a cash only sale?

funkyparott

geoffky wrote: »

I think you have done the right thing..you were just storing up trouble for the future.......Was it advertised as a cash only sale?

No, it wasn't advertised as cash only.

You wouldn't even know it was steel framed by looking at it from the outside. The village has several other properties (some on RightMove right now) that look very similar which I suspect are all trusteel.

I'm very surprised the mortgage company (Santander) didn't want a full survey.

We would have purchased had we not Googled 'TruSteel' and found this thread, instructed surveys etc.

Hopefully this information might help someone else.

nathmill85

Hi all,

Sorry to blow the cobwebs off an old thread but we have just been caught out with this type of house construction. In reality we are lucky to have only lost £300 for our valuation survey - but it was only when I walked down the street to see the council exposing the steel frames that it clicked... The houses are system built, not mortgagable, not insurable etc... Speaking to the contractors they let me photo the work in progress for future reference.

Speaking to my mortgage lender they confirmed that the house is unmortgagable pending a full structural survey and that a full retention would be placed on any potential mortgage offer - I also found after that the valuer walked off the property saying that he would not value in its present condition...

I have found a useful link to NE Derbyshire's engineers report for future reference to anyone else in this position...

EDIT: Which I can't put up as this is my first post... But search TRUSTEEL on North East Derbyshire Councils website and the file is there...