Non standard build advice

deejwood

Hi,

Looking for some advice as I feel my family and I are stuck. We've recently put our house up for sale and had an offer made on our property within 4 weeks of it going on sale. We thought great, then the offer was withdrawn and the reason the estate agents gave us was that the buyer has had bad experiences with Non Standard Build properties. That was our only interested party since the Non standard build was brought up.

We bought our house in 2004 and the survey report has it down as a Non Standard build (assumed Wimpey No Fines), but to new buyers that meant very little, its a house thats stood for over 60 years, plus the mortgage provider (HSBC) did not have an issue lending on it.

From reading various articles im getting the impression that Non Standard Build properties are not a good thing to own and not necessarily easy to sell without making a loss.

Looking at the house from the outside I can see about a foot of bricks before it becomes rendered wall. We tried getting cavity wall insulation a few years back and the chap that tried drilling into the wall, said he was hitting mesh and refused to continue. We just thought nothing more of it.

Are Non standard build houses really that bad? What 'bad' experiences can one possibly have? Is there anything that can be done to reassure buyers and lenders that the property is sound?

We've been left a little deflated and feeling lost.

Thanks in advance.
Deej

gld73

It can be difficult to sell non-standard construction houses as some types aren't accepted as suitable for mortgage - so limiting buyers to cash buyers only. Other non-standard construction types (like Wimpey No Fines) are viewed as acceptable by some lenders, but not all.

I'm actually in the process of buying a Wimpey NF house; certainly wouldn't have been my first choice if price hadn't been an issue!! Buying a standard construction same sized house was about 20 to 30% more, so I've decided to take the risk with a concrete house. it's stood for 40 years, I'm hoping it stands for another 40!

So like anything ... if it's priced appropriately, it'll sell....

caprikid1

"So like anything ... if it's priced appropriately, it'll sell...."


The lending is a bit more limited on non standard construction.


You really need the estate agent to be open and honest on the construction to prevent time being wasted.