Concrete houses - good or bad?

Mortgage_Moog

Today I received a copy of the valuation done by my mortgage provider and it clearly shows that the home I am looking at buying is of non-standard construction and is made of conrete that was poured in-situ.

After looking this up I've read stories that concrete houses cost more to insure and are un-mortgageable. I don't understand this because the mortgage lender knows it's of non-standard construction and the insurance (paid in the service charge) is much cheaper than I expected.

At the end of the valuation is says "SPECIAL NOTES REGARDING NON-STANDARD CONSTRUCTION - This is acceptable and there are open market sales confirmed indicating an active market"

So....are concrete houses bad? Surely it can't be impossible to mortgage them as I am reading because I myself have just been offered a mortgage on it?

Mortgage_Moog

Oh and it's a Wimpey No Fines house. I had no idea what that meant and guessed it was either a predictive text fault or meant that Wimpey built it, shouldn't have but weren't fined. Now I've looked it up it makes more sense.

stator

Poured concrete houses are fine (in general). They are considered "traditional" by some insurers, it's not hard to get insurance.
I have a Laing Easi-form house (the other common type of poured concrete house) and it's insured by AXA. You just need to ask the insurance company , so it's a bit more hassle than using comparisons sites.
Anyway, Wimpey No-fines is usually a single thick concrete wall with no cavity, so they can be a bit cold, you might have issues with condensation or damp etc, but nothing that old victorian houses don't have too.
Mortgages are generally fine too, I've only checked a handful but all the ones I know of are happy to lend on Wimpey and Laing concrete houses all the way up to 95%.

I would suggest you try and get a structural survey done by someone who knows about Wimpey no-fines houses. If they haven't been maintained properly then the cracks around windows can be a pain to fix. (There is some steel inside the concrete, so you have to seal up cracks to stop it getting to the steel). If you are near Cornwall I can recommend someone to do a structural survey.

Mortgage_Moog

Thanks for your help. I'm not by Cornwall but I would certainly be getting a structural survey done before going any further.

macladd

I grew up in a Wimpey No Fines house, no damp, wasn't cold, just a regular house. Due to no cavity the only insulation you can go for is external wall which is more expensive but I think there might be grants available to cover most of the costs due to the construction type. In my area the local Council recognise the difficulty insulating no fines and are in the process of providing this at little or no cost to the owner.

My parents still live in the house which is always warm and they don't have the insulation. My Dad always said that the poured concrete is full of stones and air bubbles, air is an insulator so he doesn't think the house needs extra insulation on the walls! The walls are pretty thick. Their heating bills are no more than what I pay, and I live in a house built in 2001, theirs was built in 1971.

They've never had an issue with a mortgage or insurance, infact when they recently renewed their house insurance, no fines was listed as standard construction.

amnblog

Selling on is the problem which is why Lenders don't like them.


The prices reflect the suspicion with which they are viewed in the market.


My cousins grew up perfectly happily in a no-fines homes Macladd but 'No Fines' is definitely not 'standard construction' as far as a mortgage application is concerned. To quote a concrete property as 'standard construction' is to invite a problem later.

Mortgage_Moog

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone. I can't see selling on being a problem as I was able to get a mortgage easily, in fact I got the first one I went for and I didn't even know it was concrete until after I'd been offered it!

There seems to be a lot of positives for me such as no chance of woodworm or other parasites (as it's concrete) and from being inside the place I could tell how quiet it was. The walls are as thick as a castles so I can't imagine having noise issues.

There's good and bad in each type of home and I have read in a government study from the 80's that were are no known problems with concrete homes then. Yes I know that's quite old now but I think you can look into things too much when buying a home and end up worrying yourself over everything.

I'll continue to look into it and update this thread as things progress.

amnblog

Do yourself a favour and make sure you are totally comfortable with the full implications of this property before you complete the purchase.


Don't rely on the valuation for lender's purposes only. Get a property survey done.

Mortgage_Moog

amnblog wrote: »

Do yourself a favour and make sure you are totally comfortable with the full implications of this property before you complete the purchase.


Don't rely on the valuation for lender's purposes only. Get a property survey done.

I'm looking into a structural survey. The thing is I don't have a lot of choice as my budget is very low and it's hard to find anything at all in my price range. If I could pick and choose from many properties I'd probably choose a standard build but I really don't have much choice and I still think that buying a concrete home is better than paying twice the amount of the mortgage each month to rent.

I will keep you all updated.

stator

My surveyor said to pay particular attention to cracks around the windows. I didn't even notice the hairline cracks in the render until he pointed them out. If you really can't afford a surveyor then go for another viewing and take high quality zoomed in photos of the entire exterior of the house so you can check for cracks. If you go after it's been raining the cracks are easier to see. You should be able to get a structural survey for £500. E-mail companies in Yell and ask if they have experience with Wimpey no-fines

What your father says about the air bubbles is part of the reason they used no-fines concrete, but in the end it didn't end up working as well as they thought it might. The air bubbles don't really add any insulating value. But as I said before it's no different to living in an old single wall brick house, so it's not too bad, just not as good as if you buy a modern cavity wall house with proper insulation.

Any risk to future saleability is purely theoretical since there are no known long term problems with these houses. You would think that if there were structural problems or problems with the quality of the concrete they would have shown up by now in this type of house, most of them are 60+ years old.

superbigal36

My understanding as I live in a non traditional CRUDEN house with a large traditional extension.
Is that some lenders just "tar" all non-trad houses with the same brush.
Ie Computer says NO
Halifax on the other hand I understand will give you a mortgage on most.

On a side note in my opinion the general condition of my steel/concrete part of the house is better than the modern extension !!!