definiition of working kitchen for mortgage purposes

MHF123

Hi all,
I know that to be deemed habitable for mortgage purposes, a house needs to have a "working" kitchen and bathroom, I am just interested to understand what constitutes working, particularly in the case of the kitchen.
I am trying to secure additional lending from my mortgage company (Santander) to fund the last third of our build. Having checked with them that all would be fine to borrow the extra money before we started, despite checking 3 times that it wouldn't be a problem to complete the application while the house was a "building site", they are now potentially refusing the extra lending because the house might be deemed uninhabitable and are sending a surveyor to check this out.
I have managed to get one of the 3 bathrooms working (as in with a toilet and hot and cold running water plumbed in) and the plumbing, gas and electricity and in place for where the kitchen will eventually be, however it is currently an empty shell beyond that. I was hoping to get away with a very basic temporary kitchen, ie. camping stove, microwave and small camping hob in one of the bedrooms but having read some previous posts on this subject here, I am now concerned that that might not be enough. Does anyone know whether the kitchen itself has to have running water or whether it would be okay for the temporary kitchen to be in the room next to the one bathroom with running water in it? In terms of my husband living there now (which he is having to do so that the house is not empty - another mortgage stipulation!) he can just walk to the room next door to do the washing up in the working bathroom, but does this make my temporary kitchen not qualify as working? Do I actually have to move the temporary kitchen to the site with all the services fittedwhere the proper kitchen will eventually be and do I have to actually fit a tap and sink there?

Also, does anyone know if the property can be open to the elements in some areas? I still have a number of large holes in the wall where we are awaiting windows that have yet to arrive. There are floors that have windows installed so I was hoping that these could be the "habitable" ones or does the whole house have to be air and water tight? If so, does anyone know if boarding them up would solve this?

Thanks so much for your help. As you can imagine, the consequences of not getting this extra lending at this stage in the build are too scary to think about.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

davidmcn

No, obviously a camping stove doesn't make something a kitchen! Otherwise where are all those tents with mortgages...

And I doubt you'll get away with holes or boards where windows ought to be. But you'll really need to check with Santander what their requirements are, as it sounds like you have a self-build or similar mortgage product?

AdrianC

I can't see the problem with a temporary stove. But, if it is a problem, a cheap free-standing electric cooker...
http://ao.com/product/nw50es-newworld-electric-cooker-white-39736-11.aspx if you can't find something on your local freecycle or second-hand shops...

You need a sink in the kitchen, with running water and functioning waste. If the water's already working next door, that shouldn't be hard at all. No, it doesn't need to be in the final location.

You need the property to be weathertight, too.

Mrs36

Could you buy a cheap second hand kitchen sink and a few units on Ebay perhaps?

Cheeky_Monkey

Tbh, I'd be surprised if the surveyor agrees with you that your build is two-thirds complete. I think you will have to do a lot more work first including putting all of the windows in. AFAIK, a working kitchen must have a plumbed in sink and, I believe, at least one unit.

MHF123

Sorry, should have explained better. It is just a renovation project on an existing house that is already mortgaged with Santander and we are using extra borrowing with them to part fund the project. The renovation has involved some structural stuff (loft and back extension - now completed) but internally ripping out existing bathrooms and kitchen to replace with new ones as well as knocking holes in the walls to create openings for new windows. Unfortunately I was given bad advice when I called them before the project started to ask whether it was okay to complete the application for the additional lending mid-way through the project as now the state of the house could be really problematic for us but we are stuck in a catch 22 where we can't complete the project and make it "habitable" again without drawing down the extra cash, hence why trying to figure out the bare minimum we can get away with to be deemed as habitable.

jennifernil

Several years back when my son bought his first house, he negotiated with the builders as he wanted a different kitchen, and for his dad to fit it to save money.

Builders said all that was needed was a sink over a cupboard with water connected, and this was fine with the bank too.