New build deposit

Johnat

We recently had an offer accepted on a house, one of us being a first time buyer and the other a home owner, however my partner is soon to come off this mortgage.

We visited our bank, NatWest, yesterday to proceed with our mortgage application and our mortgage advisor pointed out to us that our property appeared to be a 'New build'. This was never advertised to us as a new build, however it appears that the vendor has done work to the property, I.e refurbished/ renovated part of the house.

Our offer was accepted at £260,000 of which we are providing a 12 ish % deposit (£30k). Our mortgage advisor then told us because this would be classed as a new build, I.e "A new build is defined as any property built, first occupied in it’s current state or significantly modernised, refurbished or altered within the last 2 years." that this means we owe a minimum 15% deposit and our bank are asking for an additional £9k on our deposit. We have contacted our estate agent twice and asked them to confirm that this is not classed as a new build of which they have categorically said "no, this property is not a new build". Owing to lack of confidence in them now, we have asked for this in writing from them.

To conclude, the valuer of the property will make the final decision as to whether this is or isn't a new build at our cost of valuation (which we know we have to pay, however the principle is that we may not be able to afford the additional deposit %) and feel that somewhere along the line we have been mislead.

Any advice on the above would be very much appreciated as we don't know whether we're about to lose our dream home! Particularly through lack of communication or potential mis-sale.

Many thanks.

Thrugelmir

How much did the person who undertook the renovation pay for the property?

Mermaid89

Approach a different lender? You!!!8217;re going off the opinion of one person. When was the house built?

juniordoc

We had the same problem with the place we bought. Actually built in 1900 but renovation meant some lenders classed it as new build.
We tried a few different lenders but they all had the same opinion so we bit the bullet and saved like mad to get to the deposit they required (and borrowed a few £K from parents which we will pay back over the next year).

davidmcn

Johnat wrote: »

it appears that the vendor has done work to the property, I.e refurbished/ renovated part of the house.

Can you clarify what this work comprises? This has come up recently on another thread (about warranties) and like I said there, I'd only consider it a "renovation" if they've pretty much gone back to scratch - if it's just new kitchen/bathroom and a lick of paint, that doesn't make a newbuild.

our estate agent

Think you mean the seller's estate agent...

and asked them to confirm that this is not classed as a new build of which they have categorically said "no, this property is not a new build". Owing to lack of confidence in them now, we have asked for this in writing from them.

Doesn't really matter whether you get it in writing, the estate agent's opinion is neither here nor there. The lender can come to their own view if they like.

Johnat

We are still yet to hear back from their estate agent (apologies this is still new to me so my terminology is most probably not accurate) but your response has helped in giving me some additional questions to ask.

If the estate agent cannot clarify the work undertaken, is this something we could directly ask the vendor?

Thank you for taking the time to read and reply.

Johnat

We are just trying to establish this with the estate agent, yet to receive their response.

davidmcn

Yes, of course you can ask the vendor. But you've already seen the property - don't you know what (if anything) has been done to it? Why has your mortgage adviser decided it's newbuild? Why don't you ask them?