House I'm buying is unmortgageable!!

halesowenmum

Hi

I've been going through the process of selling my current house and buying my next having had my offer accepted all is proceeding fairly well, it was, until this morning when I received an email from Virgin Money who my current (and future) lender.

The survey was carried out yesterday and their email to me received today. This 1900s end terrace property was found to have single leaf construction on the gable end (ie end terrace bit of the house, both floors) and this apparently is a complete epic fail in terms of putting a mortgage on it and has returned a current mortgage value of £0, mortgage denied, go away and never darken our door again.

I was still with Virgin Money when I tried to buy this self same house in 2013. At that time I had a Homebuyers Survey (rather than a basic valuation which is what's just been done). It turned up no negative comments about the construction whatsoever - had it had structural implications I would expect them to have been identified by any Surveyor - and the gable end was the same then, so it would have been identified then the first time around, right?

So what is the issue with a two storey single leaf wall that's stood since the 1900s? I get it could allow for the ingress of damp (solveable, surely) but what else is so terrible about it that it means the property has no mortgageable value?

Any builders/surveyors/structural engineers out there who can clue me in - or anyone who's come across similar when trying to buy somewhere.

Be very grateful for some more understanding.

davidmcn

Did your homebuyers' report describe the construction in the same way? Or are the surveyors disagreeing about what the gable end is made of?

G_M

Other lenders may well lend on this.

See an independant mortgage broker.

AnnieO1234

Try halifax, they certainly lend on airey houses which are an untypical construction xxx

halesowenmum

davidmcn wrote: »

Did your homebuyers' report describe the construction in the same way? Or are the surveyors disagreeing about what the gable end is made of?

Hi. This is what was said in the slightly more comprehensive survey from 2013:

"The property is considered to be a reasonable purchase at the agreed price of £124,000provided that you are prepared to accept the cost and inconvenience of dealing with thevarious repair/improvement works reported. These deficiencies are quite common inproperties of this age and type and as long as the necessary works are carried out to asatisfactory standard and the property is kept in good repair, we can see no reason whythere should be any special difficulties on resale in normal market conditions"
and
"The external walls are of brick construction. The main roof is pitched and covered withslates. Internally, the floors are mainly of timber with some solid construction"
and I'm so glad you asked me that because look at the next bit:
"The walls which are approximately 225mm (9') thick, are built of brick and are of solid construction. However, the gable wall appears to have been rebuilt in recent years and is possibly in cavity construction. Externally, the left and right side gablewalls walls are smooth rendered"

The only negative issues mentioned about walls was 1. that the rendering needs re-doing on the gable end (not cracked, just general flaking and peeling) and that some of the exterior brickwork needs re-pointing.

There might be hope - weird to have such conflicting views of the construction of that wall......

halesowenmum

To GM & Annie, yes, I think that other lenders might lend on this property however, there's one issue with that.

On the current plan I stay with Virgin and port the mortgage and because of this only pay early repayment fees on the difference between the amount of my current mortgage and the amount of my upcoming mortgage on the house I'm buying.

If I switch lenders, I'll have to pay over £2,500.

PLUS:

I only just went Ltd Co for my working. I do not have two years accounts to show a new lender. They likely therefore wouldn't lend to me on that basis, never mind the building. So that could be a big stumbling block unfortunately for that option.

Virgin my existing lender are ONLY letting me continue on as a mortgage customer of theirs with respect to this house on the basis of a loan to value mortgage, not a regular mortgage. Despite earning more than I've earnt before and having good credit history etc, I actually failed approval for a normal form of mortgage . So it's really unlikely I'd get a mortgage elsewhere unfortunately.

If I did go that route though, the vendors would have to knock the early repayment charge amount off the cost of the property if they wanted me to buy it. Then I'd have to pay to have it resurveyed as well and be up to nearly £3k spent just to stick with purchasing their house from them. I'd certainly expect a contribution that's for sure.

Not only is the wall worrying the lender, but the general damp within the brickwork and timber of the house so Virgin would ALSO want all that work (damp, any rotted timbers etc) rectified before they could adjust the value, regardless of any existing guarantees.

greenhill

Just spotted this thread from two years ago....may help
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4566173

edgex

This 1900s end terrace property was found to have single leaf construction on the gable end (ie end terrace bit of the house, both floors)

"The walls which are approximately 225mm (9') thick, are built of brick and are of solid construction. However, the gable wall appears to have been rebuilt in recent years and is possibly in cavity construction.

so sounds like standard Victorian/Edwardian construction, single leaf (ie. no cavity), but is 2 bricks wide.

Ask if Virgin wont issue a mortgage on any property built prior to 1930, as they will all have single leaf walls.

halesowenmum

Thank you greenhill and edgex. Yes, there is a complete disparity between the fuller survey in 2013 and the simple valuation done on Wednesday.

It's either single leaf or cavity, it can't be both!

I'm waiting for a call back from the original surveying company as I want to get to the bottom of how they would have determined they thought it had been rebuilt and was of cavity type. Unfortunately the actual surveyor no longer works for that company so it would be a general discussion I imagine, but still, could be helpful.

I might upload the 2013 survey to Virgin's document portal today and then ring them and say well look at this maties, you didn't object to the survey last time - however, having said that, in 2013 there were other reasons why I didn't proceed with the purchase, so its possible it wasn't actually fully reviewed by anyone...

I know it seems mental but we've entered into a new world now with mortgages haven't we. Never mind the property has stood since the 1900s and survived a bit of subsidence. There are no cracks in the render, there are NO cracks in the house - it's once again their totally excessive assessment of risk.

I'm not done with this yet, it's worth exploring a bit more. And in the meantime viewings this weekend on other 3 beds although if I'm 100% honest, none of them are the house I want. But it would serve me well to at least look - I can't reject them based just on looking on Rightmove

moneyistooshorttomention

halesowenmum wrote: »

If I did go that route though, the vendors would have to knock the early repayment charge amount off the cost of the property if they wanted me to buy it. Then I'd have to pay to have it resurveyed as well and be up to nearly £3k spent just to stick with purchasing their house from them. I'd certainly expect a contribution that's for sure.

Errrrm.....am now puzzled as to why vendors would "have" to knock off YOUR "early repayment charge" if they want YOU to buy it.:cool:

In their position - I would be thinking "Why should we cover HER early repayment charge for her? That's nothing to do with us or our house". Add the fact that you say you tried to buy this same house a couple of years previously (errrrrm....so why didn't you proceed at that time? - given that you had a survey on the place). You also apparently want THEM to pay for YOUR re-survey of their place - huh???


If you try telling the vendors they must cover one of YOUR bills then be prepared for a "short sharp" answer back from them. In their position - any suggestions like that would have me refusing to sell the house to you anyway.

I thought the point you were trying to make from this earlier survey was that this single wall would appear to be a cavity wall after all (judging by the comment in it). In which case - check out that little point and maybe Virgin wont have anything to complain about anyway.

Doozergirl

edgex wrote: »

so sounds like standard Victorian/Edwardian construction, single leaf (ie. no cavity), but is 2 bricks wide.

Ask if Virgin wont issue a mortgage on any property built prior to 1930, as they will all have single leaf walls.

Solid wall construction is different to a single leaf wall. You're getting mixed up. Single leaf is structurally unsound.