How old is the house?!

jolester

We are in the process of buying a house and we are confused about the age of the property. is there a way of getting a definitive answer?

We've asked the solicitor and she reckons 2003 based on the land registry paperwork, I really don't think this is the case though!

Surrey_EA

If it's that recent, maybe the building control documents will give a fairly accurate indication.

davidmcn

jolester wrote: »

We are in the process of buying a house and we are confused about the age of the property. is there a way of getting a definitive answer?

We've asked the solicitor and she reckons 2003 based on the land registry paperwork, I really don't think this is the case though!

Why not? And why do you want to know? If it's for an insurance proposal form, they don't really need an exact answer, just the correct era.

jolester

Surrey_EA wrote: »

If it's that recent, maybe the building control documents will give a fairly accurate indication.

We really don't think it is that recent, firstly, it doesn't look it, and I'm certain when we went to view it the first time, the vendor said that he had opened up some of the "original" windows and that he had put a new roof on the house and put in a new central heating system.

They bought the house in 2008, and it looks like one previous owner from 2003 according to the solicitor.

If the house was built in 2003 would someone have really boarded up "original" (non upvc) windows (the rest of the windows are standard upvc) would it really need a new central heating system and a new roof?!

We are trying to book another viewing for this Saturday and we'd ask the vendor again directly but really struggling to get hold of the vendor as he is working away. We are struggling to get the PIF and F&F form too so not really able to ask the vendor as no one can get hold of him at the mo ! :mad:

jolester

davidmcn wrote: »

Why not? And why do you want to know? If it's for an insurance proposal form, they don't really need an exact answer, just the correct era.

We don't even know an era ! We thought it was "really" old, but now the solicitor tells us 2003, so if a 50/100 year difference we'd really like to know, we're not on about was it built within 5/10 years of 2003!

Clutterfree

Would you be happy to post a link?

Shedman

Surely the "style" of the house would give an rough indication of what era it was built in whic( would help to allay fears that it is say 50 years older than is being indicated? 1930's houses are generally quite different from 50's houses which in turn are quite different to modern houses e.g. post 80's.

Another check is to look at Sold House Prices on Zoopla for that address/postcode as that can often show New Build (or some such phrase) against the first date a new build house or flat was sold.

jolester

Clutterfree wrote: »

Would you be happy to post a link?

A rightmove link to the house or to the land registry doc?

googler

Ask a local surveyor. They'll be putting this on surveys every day of the week for their clients.

If you're lucky, you may well ask the same surveyor who last surveyed it in 2003!

noh

jolester wrote: »

A rightmove link to the house or to the land registry doc?

Rightmove.

Clutterfree

jolester wrote: »

A rightmove link to the house or to the land registry doc?

Rightmove, then we could see the style of the house and others in the street to compare.
I'd understand if you'd rather not though.