Selling a PRC House - Please Help!

lemon26

Good evening all! I am in the process of selling my previous house, which is of Dorran (pre-reinforced concrete) construction, I have a buyer and we've agreed a price and she's been approved for a mortgage...or so we thought.

A little about the house, it's a Dorran house which was upgraded in 1992 because of the Defective Homes act of 1984. The owner at the time was the local authority and they employed a firm of engineers to upgrade all of their defective houses. The bank said that they needed a set of plans for the work and the completion certificate, which they duly received.

They then said that was fine and we could proceed but, the day before the expected completion date, the lender decided that they need a PRC certificate......

Any ideas as I'm about to pull my hair out. Do local authorities even issue PRC certificates for such work as my neighbours have no PRC certificates in their deeds, I don't and the man at Building Control didn't know what I was on about.

I'd be grateful if anyone has any experience of how to go about this. Thank you ever so much, L

G_M

Have you Exchanged? If so, ignore the request and insist your buyer Completes on schedule. Not your problem.

If not, get your conveyancer to contact the lender's conveyancer to clarify what is required, quoting the Building Control comments.

lemon26

Hi G_M,

We have not exchanged as the bank changed their mind before my solicitor had faxed the signed disposition to their solicitor - only an hour or two in it I'm told.

I have had my solicitor speak to theirs concerning the PRC certificate and what Building Control say as the issue had cropped up previously but the bank had stated that plans with the completion certificate would be acceptable in lieu of the PRC certificate. Now they've changed their minds...

Any ideas how I go about getting a retrospective PRC certificate without having to destroy half the house at great expense?

Thanks again, L

bigchrissyg

Local authority may have records of this? Did you not get the PRC when you brought?

I think the PRC cert is a liability/ guarantee of sorts. If not maybe a structural engineer report might suffice?

lemon26

Hi bigchrissyg,

The council only have the approved plans and completion certificate in their records and, having spoken to my solicitor, there is no PRC certificate in the deeds. I have also spoken to my neighbours, in identical houses, and they have no PRC certificate in their deeds either.

I have seen the retrospective PRC certificate issuers on the internet and most of them say an 'intrusive' inspection would be required - I can't afford this and, as the house in rendered as is common in the area, you can't just take out a few bricks!

Any idea what sort of structural engineer's report would be required?

Thanks again, L

kingstreet

You may wish to research non-standard construction issues using something like this Nationwide guide from 2005;-

http://www.shepherd-guidelines.co.uk/pdf/lenders/natwide_non_trad_structures.pdf

Section E deals with repair of concrete property.

bigchrissyg

We had an observational structural engineers report done on our concrete (shuttered poured) house. I our case it was enough for our buyers lender to be satisfied. I think you need to ask their lender what they require as getting this doesn't seem like an option.

In my opinion, concrete houses are more awkward with lenders since the economic issues. Lenders apparently want someone to sign off and accept liability in case it is defective.

Sounds like on the lender can say what your options are.

Good luck

lemon26

Good morning all! Thank you so far for all of your replies, keep them coming!

Kingstreet - thank you ever so much for the link to the Nationwide guide, my property is a Dorran house in Scotland and the repairs were carried out by Dinardo Partnership - one of the two firms licenced to carry out such work. I believe it was done under the NTHAS scheme as the original Dorran is still in there, just with new walls etc. I have the approved plans bearing Dinardo's name and a completion certificate, am I correct in believing that a OPRC certifcate WON'T have been issued as the repair was under NTHAS and not PRC Homes scheme? Where do I go from here?

Bigchrissyg - I will speak to the original consulting engineers and see what they can suggest and thank you for your support! The bank are just messing the buyer and I around, she's homeless and I'm severely annoyed!

Thanks again, L

kingstreet

From reading the guide, it appears you should have a log of the repair/maintenance passed on from previous owners. Not much more I can tell you, sorry.

PRC was a different repair scheme, so you won't have anything from them, as it was NTHAS as you say.

lemon26

Helllo again Kingstreet, thank you once again. I have got the approved plans and completion certificate, would this be the log of the repair / maintenance work carried out?

There was nothing passed on from the previous owner apart from teh approved plans in the deeds and, when I purchased the property, the surveyor said the house was of 'standard' construction (i.e. not a 'non-standard' house, as it has turned out to be) so I didn't know to ask for any extra information. I have been told that the original surveyor has no case to answer to as he made a 'mistake'. So this leaves me trying to sort everything out...

kingstreet

I'm getting out of my field here, so I suggest you call Dinardo & Parnters and ask them if they can tell you the things you should have.

TBH the purchaser's solicitor should be establishing what is required in these circumstances and requesting that. Not simply passing on a lender's demand for a certificate which may, or may not, actually be applicable to the property.

Your solicitor should be feeding back to the purchaser's solicitor the information about the property - that it's Dorran, was repaired according to the Dinardo method under NTHAS and that the documentation you have is all that is available.