House Buying - Habitable or not?

daveparky119

Hi All,

I am in the process of buying a house, currently waiting for the Mortgage lender to arrange a valuation.

After doing a lot of research i am finding some different results on what makes a house Habitable.

Current Property is a Repossession
Water and Elect have been switched off
Boiler and some radiators have been removed
Bath and Sink have been removed (Toilet still present)
Cooker has been removed (Wire still present waiting connection)
Many electricity fittings have been removed (lights, switches)

What might I need to do to get this mortgageable???

Any help is appreciated.

Drathor

I would imagine the price reflects this. A lender will still lend on a place that needs doing up and nothing of what you have listed is major.

We went to look at a repo simaler list to yours as it went to public notice the EA kept hassling me to increase my offer in the end it got to a stage where it was going over the asking price at this point i bowed out...I didnt want it that bad.

Alarae

The only thing I can see which may be an issue is the lack of a boiler possibly? For a kitchen to pass mortgagibility it needs a sink only from my experience in repossessions.

I've never sold a repossesion without a boiler and the only case I can think of had everything ripped out so was clearly not mortgagable (even if it did have one of the three boilers that was removed...)

SmlSave

I've seen two houses that the lender wouldn't lend on. One without a bathroom and one without a kitchen.

The bathroom one fell through

The kitchen one, the sellers put in a basic kitchen quick!

PasturesNew

On HutH on the telly, they just usually mention a kitchen sink ... and I guess a loo is essential.

With a sink and a loo you could live in it with a camp bed. Without a sink or a loo you couldn't really.

Davesnave

Even 40 years ago, I had a retention on a property without what the lender considered an adequate hot water system, so I'd guess an immersion in the tank, a bog and a sink in the kitchen with H&C would be about right for many lenders. There may be specialists who'd take less.

My daughter bought one like that last year with no problem, though within minutes it had lost the toilet and kitchen sink....everything really!

That's what makes the whole thing a bit farcical. In order to create, one must first destroy.

Davesnave

PasturesNew wrote: »

Without a sink or a loo you couldn't really.

Compost toilet? I've heard they're OK.

Haven't tried one myself, but parents had a penchant for doing places up, and in those days the Elsan was their stand-by. I remember coming home and finding the bathroom had disappeared. My Mum tried to make it better by pointing out the Elsan was 'modern' and made of plastic, not galvanised, like the last one.....

silvercar

The lender wants to know that they could resell to cover the mortgage if they needed to repossess. So basic facilities have to be there, I have seen comments about kitchen sinks and a toilet. I suspect a lender may be less wary if you have a low LTV than if you are mortgaging to the hilt.

PasturesNew

Davesnave wrote: »

Compost toilet? I've heard they're OK.

Haven't tried one myself, but parents had a penchant for doing places up, and in those days the Elsan was their stand-by. I remember coming home and finding the bathroom had disappeared. My Mum tried to make it better by pointing out the Elsan was 'modern' and made of plastic, not galvanised, like the last one.....

Growing up, our holidays were often renting a caravan, in a farmer's field - where they had just 1 or 2 caravans to rent. They had gas mantles for lighting and the loo was a chemical toilet in a 4'x4' corrugated iron 'shed' alongside - and you had to take a torch with you as there was no electricity.

BelleNI

I recently wanted to view a property and was advised by the estate agent that they could only take cash offers because it was not mortgageable because it did not have a sink.