My house has become un-mortgageable

kingstreet

I've come across similar things over the years. Properties had additions built in single skin brick, not the usual 9" cavity brickwork and this was mentioned in the valuation/survey as a likely detriment to future re-sale.

In the circumstances where the surveyor carried out both the mortgage report and valuation and Homebuyer's Report, the surveyor is potentially liable to both the borrower and the lender in failing to report the issue as an impediment to future sale and to the potential impact on the security.

There has been no significant change in lending policy towards such property in the last five years. They were difficult to mortgage then and are still difficult to mortgage now. The question to ask of the lender is, had they been aware of the problem at the time, would they have accepted the property as security for the mortgage on the terms requested. If the answer is no, the borrower and lender should pursue the surveyor together.

Otherwise the borrower should approach the issue from the lack of warning about future saleability.

hexiburner

Thank you all for your posts and comments. Just to catch up on some post questions.

Yes the surveyor is RICS, I used the same surveyor as the bank to obtain both a valuation and home buyers survey. (again no actions regarding future saleability)


The top part of the house looks to be single brick with slate tile. The bottom part of the house seem to be much thicker. The homebuyers report mentioned the main walls but does not have any concerns regarding construction, gives no thickness dimensions and upon reading gives no cause for concern.

Yes I agree the market has changed. I have accepted that I would not get what I paid for it. Not even my current lender will lend on the property which does seem very strange, as there have essentually devalued there own investment.

I have spoken with my lender. They are dealing with it and have five days to respond.

kingstreet wrote: »

There has been no significant change in lending policy towards such property in the last five years. They were difficult to mortgage then and are still difficult to mortgage now. The question to ask of the lender is, had they been aware of the problem at the time, would they have accepted the property as security for the mortgage on the terms requested. If the answer is no, the borrower and lender should pursue the surveyor together.

Otherwise the borrower should approach the issue from the lack of warning about future saleability.

This is interesting, Surely then the surveyor at the time should have mentioned it in the report regarding future sale?

The Estate agent who I must say have been first class, have essentially sold the property three times in the last 8 months, only to find that the single skin parts of the house to be an issue. On each occasion the buyer was refused finance. They have even tasked there top financial advisor to try to secure a loan on the property, but each time have been refused.

I did phone the surveyor on Friday, they have no record of my report and would not speak to me and referred me back to my lender.

Regards

kingstreet

The surveyor is referring you back to the lender because it thinks only a basic mortgage report and valuation was carried out. Wait and see what the lender comes back with before you decide on your action

Surely then the surveyor at the time should have mentioned it in the report regarding future sale?

Yes, I'd say the surveyor should have mentioned the future saleability aspects in your report and the likely impact on the security on the lender's valuation report.

ex_surveyor

hexiburner
A single skin wall is one in which the bricks are laid end to end, giving a wall thickness of about 110mm (as opposed to the normal solid brick wall of c.225mm where bricks are laid both end to end and side by side in a stable bonding pattern). This type of wall is often found in single storey additions/sections of 19th and early 20C houses, and has poor stability for loadbearing. It should not be used for 2 storey construction because of this (and also has poor weather exclusion and thermal insulation properties), but was often used to build the rear 2 storey sections of houses of this age, which now contain kitchen and bathroom; here the GF construction can be 'beefed up' to adequately support the loads above.

Most lenders have a policy regarding single skin walls, and while they will often accept a small section of single storey, will not accept it as 2 storey construction.

Any surveyor carrying out a mortgage valuation and/or a Home Buyer type inspection should have identified this construction and reported on it to the lender and survey client, commented on problems associated with it, and the likely effects on saleability/ mortgageability. Failure to do this could amount to negligence.

If your surveyor was RICS, his firm are obliged to have a complaints procedure approved by RICS which they must follow. Write to them again, pointing this out, and requesting they advise their insurers that you may be pursuing a claim. Copy it to the RICS in London. The firm will then be obliged to notify their insurers as a condition of their professional indemnity insurance policy.

This is simply a question of fact, not opinion. If parts of the construction are of single skin they should have been identified and reported on, and you should have been made aware of problems arising from this.

Hope this helps.

hexiburner

Thank you for your advice 'ex surveyor'. For me this is a real pickle. I'll keep you all posted on the out come.

I have contacted my lender who are in the process of contacting the surveyor.


I can confirm my surveyor is RICS.

Thank you all once again for your advice.

Regards

Conrad

The claim is with the Surveyor. Personally I'd go straight to RICS using special delivery post with a copy to the surveyor. Messing about with the lender is likely to lead to unnecessary delay and complication (Chinese whispers).

Even if the lender has a part to play, ultimately I suspect RICS and the Surveyors insurers will have the final say so.

One point; I was always trained to point out that clients could only claim under a level 3 full structural survey, and not under level1 or 2 (Homebuyres report). Not saying I'm right on this though.

julie.leadley

sorry too butt in here im wondering if anyone can help me.. we purchased our house in april 2008 just come too re sell and been told it cant be mortgaged its a unity house which i was aware of but didnt no it needed a prc - our house has not been made to prc standards. the surveyor in his reports did ask for the prc certificate which was never sent yet the mortgage still went ahead with us totally oblivious to it all.... can anyone give me any advice please?

Catslovelycats

julie.leadley wrote: »

sorry too butt in here im wondering if anyone can help me.. we purchased our house in april 2008 just come too re sell and been told it cant be mortgaged its a unity house which i was aware of but didnt no it needed a prc - our house has not been made to prc standards. the surveyor in his reports did ask for the prc certificate which was never sent yet the mortgage still went ahead with us totally oblivious to it all.... can anyone give me any advice please?

Hi Julie
Welcome to the MSE forum! :T
You will find lots of help here. You are prob better to start a new thread about your problem rather than add a post abut it here as it will not be seen by so many people as it would if you had your own thread.
Hope you manage to resolve your house issue.

gardenia101

We bought a terraced house built around 1870 that had a single storey extension added on the back, probably sometime in the late 60's/early 70's to add a separate kitchen & bathroom. We bought it in 1996 & sold it again in 2005, & both our buyers & us had surverys done & mortgages approved.

On neither survey was it pointed out that the end wall of the extension was built of just a single row of bricks. We always thought it was a cold bathroom (!) but only found out the details when the new owners were removing tiles from the end wall - & a huge hole appeared! Thankfully nobody was hurt & the wall didn't collapse, & they got it fixed quickly as the neighbour was a builder.

Surely this should have shown up on a survey? And any type of survey?

hexiburner

ex_surveyor wrote: »

hexiburner
A single skin wall is one in which the bricks are laid end to end, giving a wall thickness of about 110mm (as opposed to the normal solid brick wall of c.225mm where bricks are laid both end to end and side by side in a stable bonding pattern). This type of wall is often found in single storey additions/sections of 19th and early 20C houses, and has poor stability for loadbearing. It should not be used for 2 storey construction because of this (and also has poor weather exclusion and thermal insulation properties), but was often used to build the rear 2 storey sections of houses of this age, which now contain kitchen and bathroom; here the GF construction can be 'beefed up' to adequately support the loads above.

Most lenders have a policy regarding single skin walls, and while they will often accept a small section of single storey, will not accept it as 2 storey construction.

Any surveyor carrying out a mortgage valuation and/or a Home Buyer type inspection should have identified this construction and reported on it to the lender and survey client, commented on problems associated with it, and the likely effects on saleability/ mortgageability. Failure to do this could amount to negligence.

If your surveyor was RICS, his firm are obliged to have a complaints procedure approved by RICS which they must follow. Write to them again, pointing this out, and requesting they advise their insurers that you may be pursuing a claim. Copy it to the RICS in London. The firm will then be obliged to notify their insurers as a condition of their professional indemnity insurance policy.

This is simply a question of fact, not opinion. If parts of the construction are of single skin they should have been identified and reported on, and you should have been made aware of problems arising from this.

Hope this helps.

Hi all,


It's been a while but I thought I'll update this thread. I eventually went to a solicitor who advised me to get another professional opinion using an independent surveyor (all at my expense). It turned out that the original surveyor should had identified the single skin issue i.e. 110mm in a Homebuyers report. It also affected both sides of the house.

I was able to sell the property to a cash buyer at a vastly reduced sum roughly 40% of market value if it had ‘no’ problem. I also managed to settle with the original surveyor after months of negotiation, who unsurprisingly admitted no liability. I know lots about the pre action protocol now! I managed to get back all legal and professional fees in the settlement. I came away with a reasonable amount.

I would like to thank everyone in this forum for their advice. It certainly has been an experience for me! However, my faith in God has grown stronger because of this, such experiences I believe let us know what the real important things in life are.

Take care.
H
:T