1962 Trusteel mk2 Steel Frame advice please?

Lillie2012

Can anyone offer me some advice please?

I've read several posts concerning steel framed housing on here but none are recent. I had an accepted offer on a property in Rainford, St Helens. The original mortgage company informed us the property was steel framed so they would not consider mortgaging it. We contacted the council and they claim it is a Trusteel mk 2 and was built by Leatherbarrow builders in 1962. Every house in this area is a steel framed house. The majority are steel framed dormer bungalows with the exception of 3 detached properties - one of which we were looking to buy. The house looks like a normal brick detached house. Having been refused a mortgage we had our doubts and have since Googled 'steel framed housing.' This has obviously made us feel we should stay away from it. The estate agent claims to be completely unaware of any issues regarding the sale of these properties and has been selling them for 30 years. Our problem is this...The Nationwide will mortgage the property but have read it is best to have a structural engineer report. We are worried about a few things. Should we leave well alone? Do they have problems? If problems did ever occur, what could they be and how would they be fixed? Our insurance company says the house is covered but could they ever exempt themselves from claims in the future concerning the property type? Nationwide have offered us a five year fixed deal but what happens after the 5 years? If its a struggle now, will it be a lot worse then? And if we wanted to sell, would we have a bigger problem selling to someone else? should we be concerned or is it mainstream lenders adjusting their policies? Thanks in advance and apologies for the long story!

TheKeymeister

I remember tentatively looking at houses a while back, saw one that fitted the bill and subsequently sold. It then reappeared on rightmove as for sale but cash buyers only due to steel frame construction. I was shocked as it looked like a normal house, started reading more into it and the general feeling I got was that people who own steel framed houses will defend them as much as possible, but even though the construction itself may be fine, there's too much extra difficulty and uncertainty associated with them.

A colleague actually had an offer accepted on a house in the same estate, and only found out on the survey that it was steel framed and couldn't get a mortgage. The estate agents denied knowing about it at first but then admitted it and paid half of his survey fee and he then pulled out.

ognum

I would be wary, who will buy from you when you want to sell?

steelframedhouse

My Dad bought a steel framed house last year, on the survey it was described as a post-war truss steel house. As soon as I found out it was a steel framed house I tried to dissuade my Dad from buying it as I was worried about the same sort of things I had read on the internet as you but as my Dad pointed out skyscrapers are built with steel frames with no issues! A steel framed house is not classed as a defective build type under the housing act (as some other types of construction are) but just a non-traditional build.

My concerns were him not be able to insure it, this turned out to be an unfounded worry as he insured it with a high street name with no issues and a comparable premium to his last house. My Dad happened to be a cash buyer as he had already sold his old home but the house wasn't advertised as a cash only sale.

The survey advised that potential problem area could be:

The steels are tied vertically and horizontally and the vertically stanchions are bolted to the foundations. This is the joint that has caused most problems in this type of house, as it can become damp and the steel joint rusts.

The survey said it was basically a solid and sound property for it's age.