need advice on concrete built house

Ianne

We've viewed a house yesterday in Cardiff and we were told the house was built from poured concrete, and not pre fabricated, not sure if it has steel in it. The house was built on 1920's and was not an ex-council house. We like the house and we are thinking of buying it. We are a bit worried though as a lot of people are telling us to avoid concrete built houses.

I need anyone's advice on this, should I avoid it or carry on buying it?

Thank you

kingstreet

Call your local Colleys (LBG survey arm) and say you're thinking of using Halifax for your mortgage. Ask them about the property construction and if it would give them any concerns;-

http://www.colleys.co.uk/customer/contact-us/find-your-local-surveyor/

Prothet_of_Doom

http://goo.gl/maps/KCmbY

http://goo.gl/maps/TM2DD

http://goo.gl/maps/JmqJI


You see these houses, concrete. I show 3 views so you can see the initial attraction. Looking out on to a courty Park, Right on the edge of the countryside, but still close to shops, and schools, and not far from Bus into the city.

In 1989, we had an offer accepted to buy our first home, at £58K. The brick houses 300 yrds away over the Worcestershire Border were £75K, so we assumed that being ex birmingham city council, meant the pricing was snob value.

The EA details did not say a thing, but if you looked at the detail on a brick house, it said "a Brick built semi".

The EA asked us who we were going to use as a lender - Halifax. Big Pause...........................Ah, you might want to use someone else, they won't lend on this.........Why......Pause.......They won't......why.....pause......it's not traditional brick built......what is it......erm....pause.....Concrete, but we have a list of sympathetic lenders.....Okay.....

Rang up my Uncle Bob, Retired Senior Employee of House building and Planning for Birmingahm City Council, in the 60's...

Ah, Each way lane, Rednal, yes, Concrete..Whimpey No Fines...Poured onsite...Big moulds..Lots of condensation...difficult to heat...Big though.....Run away...Run away..Design life 25 years, Built in the latev 50's...surprised still standing...horrific houses...run run run away.

Now I know NOTHING about concrete houses, but if a house has stood 90 years (1920 you say), I can't see it falling over tomorrow...but I know nothing...Personally I'd RUN away.

kwmlondon

Well, the Romans built with concrete and the Pantheon in Rome is still standing... No reason why a concrete building should fall down. However, any building that was not built properly will suffer. Give your insurance company a call and ask if they'll cover it, and then ask your lender. If both say yes a full structural survey should see you alright.

You could just as easily ask if a timber frame is safe - dry rot and that.

SmlSave

My uncle and brother both have concrete slab houses. They are harder to get a mortgage for but are perfectly sound.

Mortgage companies don't like them because there were some many years ago that collapsed but I haven't heard of any for years and I'm sure it would get in the news.

If you love it then buy it, you can always save to have it bricked up in the future.

D00gie72

I had an offer accepted on a Woolaway bungalow last year these are reinforced concrete panels - so different from what you're looking at. Anyway - basically some lenders didn't want to know and some others were fine with it. We had to have an additional structural survey on the place but that all came out fine. At the end of the day you wont know until you ask - some lenders will not lend but that doesn't mean you wont find someone to lend on it. Also bear in mind buildings insurance may be higher.

kingstreet

The point here is that the property was not "system" built if it was built in the 1920s and therefore may not have the same issues as those built post-1939 which saw many of the issues which caused the 1984 & 1985 Housing Act "defective" labelling.

The OP needs to establish the construction style/name to see what the implications are, hence my suggestion to talk to a surveyor about mortgageability and saleability issues.

Ianne

Hello
Thank you for all your advice


I phoned my local colley and told him that the house was built from poured concrete, and he said that it could be either a wimpey no fine or a laing type and there shouldn't be a problem with a mortgage. I think he was out of office when I phoned him as I could hear road noises so I did not bother asking him a lot of questions. I have emailed another colley and I am still waiting for reply, hopefully she'll be able to provide me more information.


Anyway, I already knew that the house is mortgageable as the EA have told us that the previous buyer had a mortgage accepted and just backed out because they wanted a bricked built house.

kingstreet

It wasn't just about mortageability now, it was for future saleability prospects when you want to sell.

RichardD1970

Our house is concrete. 1960s ex-council house. Most of the houses in the area are of the same construction. Mortgage through Halifax no problem, never a problem with insurance.

Don't know the specific construction but the houses sell readily enought so can't be that much of a problem.

Biggest problem, drilling the bloody walls :eek:

drdpj

We have quite a few poured concrete, no fines, houses around here - corolites. They were built in the 30s. The council recently refurbed them with external insulation. Apparently in their native state they're an absolute pig to keep warm - don't know how they are with the additional insulation, I'm guessing it makes a fair difference.

There's one for sale on my road, with the external insulation added by a private owner. It's been on for several months and in the mean time, several brick houses on the estate have come to market and sold pretty quickly.

Definitely check the state of the chimney stacks, most of the privately owned ones around here are sort of half disintegrating with plants growing out of them and would need re-rendering.

d.