Selling a house with two kitchens against the law?!

PasturesNew

My initial reaction is that it has been illegally split into two separate homes - and therefore doesn't meet building regs. As they seem to wish to live in it as two separate flats they'd need to do it legally/properly/safely.

So it's not "a residential dwelling", but "a potentially dodgy/death trap conversion of unknown quality" and not mortgageable.

There will be ways to resolve this... you really need to get the official wording of what the problem is in order to find the workarounds.

What'd usually happen is somebody would buy it - then either turn it back into one house, or apply for Planning Permission and building regulations to get it separated legally, then have the work done on it. It'd therefore not be possible to move into it to live in it while that work were going on.

E&OE

Callie22

My parents house has two kitchens - one in the main house and one in the back annexe. As far as I'm aware, there was no problem when they bought it (with a small mortgage) and as it's currently on the market, there appears to be no issue with selling it either.

The only problem that they did have was when they wanted to move the smaller kitchen that's in the main 'house' bit into a larger room. They were told then that there would be council tax issues as the small kitchen wasn't currently classed as a 'kitchen' as it was so small, but if they moved it to a larger room then it would count as a kitchen and the house would then be two separate dwellings for council tax purposes. I will admit though that it's an odd house that's part business and part residental and the 'house' part has one entrance and one garden etc, so it's always been weird council tax and business rates wise.

SG27

eddddy wrote: »

A quick Google search suggests this is a mortgage problem (not a legal problem).

Apparently mortgage lenders worry that if a survey says the property has two kitechens, you may planning to sub-let part of the property.

One link suggests removing the cooker and fridge from one of the kitchens (just during the survey) , and call it a laundry room or utility room - and the problem is solved. The other says the whole 2nd kitchen needs to be ripped out.

Here are the links:
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100809072137AArRLMo
http://www.homemove.co.uk/forums/peculiar-reason-for-declining-a-mortgage-3395.html

Do a google search of 'mortgage two kitchens' to see lots of other info on this.

Thanks very much this almost certainly sounds like the issue.

I know letting the buyers in to do work before completion would be a bad idea but what's the worsed that could happen? It sounds like the executer is planning to do this!

steve1980

SG27 wrote: »

Thanks very much this almost certainly sounds like the issue.

I know letting the buyers in to do work before completion would be a bad idea but what's the worsed that could happen? It sounds like the executer is planning to do this!

Refuse to complete and live like squatters.....

paddy's_mum

Try this for size .. they don't carry insurance for your family's property and do daft things like decanting petrol next to the hob ... when it goes boom, guess who gets stuck with a semi-destroyed property and no insurance or assets to claim against!

Remember the Cutty Sark.

theGrinch

never heard the law (outside stalin's russia) getting involved in kitchen planning. if the buyers need a mortgage then the mortgage company may insists that works are carried out to remove a kitchen

vax2002

The dual kitchen act 1953 sections 1a-4b clearly state that the fitting of two kitchens in a property with only 1 toilet is an offence punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment.

SG27

vax2002 wrote: »

The dual kitchen act 1953 sections 1a-4b clearly state that the fitting of two kitchens in a property with only 1 toilet is an offence punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment.

No April fools please

eddddy

SG27 wrote: »

Thanks very much this almost certainly sounds like the issue.

I know letting the buyers in to do work before completion would be a bad idea but what's the worsed that could happen? It sounds like the executer is planning to do this!

This isn't making sense. Your girlfriend's parents really need to understand exactly what the mortgage comany requires. My guess is that either:
1) the mortgage company will want the 2nd kitchen removed before they approve the mortgage
or
2) they will want the buyer to sign an undertaking that they will remove the kitchen with x weeks of completion

If it's option 1, the buyer can't exchange contracts until the mortgage co approve the mortgage. So the buyer needs to rip out the kitchen before exchange (and before they get mortgage approval). That is super-high risk! The buyer can back out for any reason before exchange - including "they just changed their minds".

If it's option 2, there's no need to do anything before completion.

I think your girlfriend's parents should discuss this with a solicitor. I assume they are the executors. I'm not a lawyer, but if they do something 'silly' the beneficiaries may sue them for negligence.

For example, if

• they let the prospective buyers do damage to the property
• the prospective buyers walk away
• because of the damage, the property ultimately sells for less

The beneficiaries may sue the gf's parents for the loss in sales value

SG27

eddddy wrote: »

This isn't making sense. Your girlfriend's parents really need to understand exactly what the mortgage comany requires. My guess is that either:
1) the mortgage company will want the 2nd kitchen removed before they approve the mortgage
or
2) they will want the buyer to sign an undertaking that they will remove the kitchen with x weeks of completion

If it's option 1, the buyer can't exchange contracts until the mortgage co approve the mortgage. So the buyer needs to rip out the kitchen before exchange (and before they get mortgage approval). That is super-high risk! The buyer can back out for any reason before exchange - including "they just changed their minds".

If it's option 2, there's no need to do anything before completion.

I think your girlfriend's parents should discuss this with a solicitor. I assume they are the executors. I'm not a lawyer, but if they do something 'silly' the beneficiaries may sue them for negligence.

For example, if

• they let the prospective buyers do damage to the property
• the prospective buyers walk away
• because of the damage, the property ultimately sells for less

The beneficiaries may sue the gf's parents for the loss in sales value

Her parents aren't the executers they are the beneficiaries! Well her nan is. The executer is a friend of the deceased who does not seem to be very pro active and is often difficult to contact which is making it very difficult!