advice on valuation for non standard construction

amoulton

Hi,

I have recently had a standard valuation done as part of remortgaging my property with a new lender. The report has apparently said that the property is of non standard construction described as: "constructed of concrete columns & blocks of newly applied brick cladding. is of unity and butterley construction".

The problem is that this is total news to me and I could use some advice about what to do next.

initial Q's:
1. How do i determine the construction of the property. Is it registered somewhere? Do I need to have a detailed building survey done to determine this.
2. Normally detailed information about the construction of a property would not be part of a standard valuation report so why would the valuer include that information.
3. Is it possible for the valuer to have determined this information from spending 10 mins looking around the property ?


additional info:
I own the upstairs flat of a house that was converted into two flats in about 2005, I bought it in 2006. I have always believed the property to be standard brick and tile construction. I will need to find all the paperwork from when I first bought it but certainly was never informed it was not of normal construction. Also a valuation 3 years ago when looking for a fresh mortgage deal did not state this.

Alexei.

lincroft1710

1. It will be on the original planning application.
2. It should be, otherwise how can the valuer justify a low valuation if a property is of non traditional construction.
3. Don't know.

If you think the valuer has mistakenly identified the construction of the building, then you should try and contact him to discuss the matter.

kingstreet

Have a look at this;-

http://landmarkprc.co.uk/index.php/Unity-PRC-House.html

It may well be the property has been repaired and is now considered mortgageable. Such properties were deemed defective under the 1984 Housing Defects Act and Housing Act 1985.

Obviously you need to look at the documentation which accompanied your original purchase.

amoulton

Thanks for your replies much appreciated.

I have looked through ALL the paperwork associated with buying the property. There is not a single mention anywhere of this being Unity and Butterley construction. But it seems that none of the conveyencing/searches mentions the type of construction. The title deeds to the property only mention boundaries.

The one useful document is the valuation done by my existing mortgage lender prior to the purchase and it clearly states 'walls: brick, roof: tiled'. no mention of non standard construction. (at least that is something)

I am hoping that I can get something from the council to describe the construction - maybe original building plans if they exist but I am not counting chickens. Having found some pictures of 'Unity & Butterley' type houses on the web they have a distinctive kind of 'strips' pattern - even with apparent bricks which doubly makes me think this survey has got it wrong.

At this stage I might need to fork out £500 for a detailed building survey just to find out what the place is made of:(. Any other suggestions on how on earth I found out this information would be greatly appreciated!

cheers,
Alexei.

amoulton

Just to update this thread with some resolution. Kingstreet, it turns out you were right. The house was repaired at the point that it was renovated and converted into flats. When I spoke to the owner of the downstairs she said 'oh didn't you know? The concrete was replaced with standard brick cavity walls. I have a PRC certificate would you like a copy?'

So a) mightily mightily relived! but b) bloody heck why didn't this information ever get provided to me, or to my solicitors during the conveyancing etc!

kingstreet

That's a good question!

Glad you managed to resolve it.