When was my house built?

podgy

..........is information one appears to need for house insurance (I am currently considering switching).

I phoned up the Land Registry who told me that they dont record that type of information (why would they?) - they advised me to go to my local library and track back through the Ordnance Survey maps to establish in which year the house was built. I asked what if the house had been re-built through the ages: he said a different shape would appear on the OS map if so.

All a bit unsatisfactory, so if anyone could provide simpler guidance as to how I might answer the question above I would be much obliged.

kingstreet

What's the build year/age on your current insurance schedule?

Have you got a copy of the valuer's report from when you bought the property, the surveyor will have quoted it on there.

Got the old deeds pack in your care?

olly300

Have a look at your deeds? Talk to a neighbour who has a house that looks identical to yours? (This is easier in towns and cities as houses were often built in groups.) Otherwise of to the library it is.

Most home insurance asks for what period your house was built in i.e. before 1900, 1900-1925 rather than the exact date. The only issues come if your house is over 100 years old as loads of insurance companies will not touch it.

Also you really need to find out the oldest part of your house for house insurance as that's the date the insurer users.

sagalout1954

Ask the Planning Dept of your Local Authority if they have any idea.

podgy

not that I have them but I understand that the deeds dont contain the year of construction, hence my call to the Land Registry.

For the current insurance schedule I put down 1930s as that was in the description of the house when we bought it some five years back - but an elderly neighbour now reckons the street got bombed in the war and the house re-built.

Had a look in our Survey and he has built in "about 1920" - which will be a good place to start vis-a-vis the library and the OS.

I'd just hoped that some body or other might have held such info, silly me!

MX5huggy

Put a photo on here, it quite obvious as to when a house was built normally

FlameCloud

You could always measure the bricks. Pre war bricks were invariably 9" long, not including the mortar. Post war tended to be 9" including half the mortar on each side of it.

olly300

podgy wrote: »

not that I have them but I understand that the deeds dont contain the year of construction, hence my call to the Land Registry.

The copies I received and other bits of paper contained when my property was built. Though I know from the original owners whose family had lived in it since it was constructed.

podgy wrote: »

For the current insurance schedule I put down 1930s as that was in the description of the house when we bought it some five years back - but an elderly neighbour now reckons the street got bombed in the war and the house re-built.

Ask another neighbour.

There may be someone in your neighbourhood who did a project when the houses were built.

podgy wrote: »

Had a look in our Survey and he has built in "about 1920" - which will be a good place to start vis-a-vis the library and the OS.

Yep.

Also as already suggested by MX5huggy by looking at a photo of your house historians and builders would be able to make a good guess.

podgy wrote: »

I'd just hoped that some body or other might have held such info, silly me!

If you don't have the deeds or paper copies of your deeds, and other bits of paper that came with them, then unfortunately you won't have the information. Even though paper deeds aren't needed any more all the ones I've seen come with other bits of paper which have lots of interesting historical information.