Full renovation on a house

nomemory

Hello everyone,

Sorry this is so long...

I'm looking for any sort of advice you could give me on a full house renovation. Ill be very honest from the outset...im 27..a first time buyer and know little to nothing about renovating houses bar watching mass amounts of grand designs...so all advice welcome!

Basically my uncle has a house that he has used to store building materials for the last 30 years. He has offered it to me for 45k and he said it would be around 40k to renovate.

I went in yesterday..and honestly feeling like a was taking my life in my hands. Its 3 storey house. Not currently liveable.

From what I could tell the floors of each level of the house need replacing..or at least reinforced..I could see sunlight from the top of the house whilst standing at the bottom floor and although I made it to the top I did not feel safe going up each level! The roof is a flat roof..felted..which hasnt been maintained and so it looked like quite a bit of of water has come in down certian walls.

From an amateurs view:

All windows need replaced (some are just boarded up).
All walls need dried out and replastered.
The roof would need to be replaced with a pitched roof.
A entire gas heating system needs put in
Im assuming a plumbing system with pipes also needs installed.
Im not sure what the term is but each floor/level needs replaced or at least reinforced..needs floorboards etc.

Im told it does have recent electrics and also a damp proof course done. Which is about all it has lol.

Your probably wondering why im not running away! But the house is in a great location for my needs and the potential for the house and what it could be is really exciting. Plus the satisfaction of starting from scratch and doing it up just the way I would like it would be fantastic.

Before anyone brings it up..I am aware it would take a long time and I am aware it will be very frustrating process and it wont all go to plan nor to budget.

But what im really looking advice on is whether in your opinion, based on the info above, would 40k would be roughly enough to back to 'blank house state'.
Has anyone had experience with complete renvoation? Any advice?

I gueess the first step to get a builder in to give me an estimate?

Just some extra info - my uncles were builders but are quite elderly so couldnt do the work themselves. Im also not sure if their esitmate is accurate.
I would have the renovations done with money I will have saved and then apply for a mortage for the 45k (as im assimung the bank would not be keen on giving a mortgage for a house thats unlivable..especially to a first time buyer.)
Also I live in Northern Ireland so I'm not sure if builders costs etc are much different to other parts of the UK.

All advice welcome!

HappyMJ

You will need the cash to do this up. You could get an unsecured personal loan which would have a high interest rate but as soon as the house is complete you could then get a mortgage on the property to refinance the debt to reduce your interest rate and monthly repayments.

You should get a 0% purchase interest credit card to purchase materials on which you should repay once the 0% ends.

It's unlikely the bank will lend on a house that is unliveable so you'll have to come to an agreement with your uncle to pay for the house once the works are complete and you have the finance.

Get a credit check now to make sure that a mortgage will be approved at the end of all this. It'll need to perfect and your income secure and provable.

Crinkmeister

Without seeing it, 40k sounds very optimistic! Certainly worth getting some quotes in. Start with the roof - I suspect you would need planning permission to change roof from flat to pitched? But what a great way to learn!! Good luck and keep us posted!

nomemory

Many thanks guys, this kind of advice is great!

The roof is probably the most important part considering its letting the rain in so that will certianly needs to be looked at first. I mentioned to my uncle whether planning permission may be needed for a pitched roof but he didnt seem sure so I must look into that too.

And the financial info is great too thank you, I was pretty sure I'd need to do it up first then purchase it off my uncle which I would assume he'd be fine with. I think he wants to keep the property in the family so I don't think he'd have an issue with the wait.

Keep the advice coming all appreciated!

Mojisola

nomemory wrote: »

I was pretty sure I'd need to do it up first then purchase it off my uncle which I would assume he'd be fine with.

So you're going to be spending your money and time doing up a house that belongs to someone else?

Don't start anything until you secure your right to buy the house at the unimproved price in writing!

Mojisola

nomemory wrote: »

Just some extra info - my uncles were builders but are quite elderly so couldnt do the work themselves.

Make sure that your position is secure if the uncle/s die before the house is finished - what do their wills say?

Crinkmeister

Are you going to do any of the work yourself?

nomemory

Oh yes I would get a written agreement before any work would be started in relation to the house being left to me if my uncle passed on. We do not have any family left on that side of the family bar my uncles so I believe when they pass on currently it would be left to my dad..who im currently living with to raise the money. But this would all be sorted before any work would be done.

We are happy to do the work in relation to decoration, putting down floorboards etc etc. I would not be confident for myself or my SO to do roofing/installing gas/windows etc. So mostly decoration.

Doozergirl

£40k is not going to fix a house that has water pouring in through the roof and 2 entire floors that need replacing, not a chance. All the woodwork is going to be rotten. Is this house detached? It sounds like it could be cheaper to demolish and rebuild!

elsien

I'm also thinking your agreement would need to include what would happen if uncle needed to pay to go into care so that the house wasn't included in his assets - worst case scenarios and all that.


How much would a survey be to get a proper estimate of the work that needs doing?