Halifax Mortgage Offer - Matters Affecting Value

GirlInKent

Hi,

My offer for a 1930s terraced Victorian house was accepted and today I received the mortgage offer report. All looks fine barring the below comments :

MATTERS AFFECTING VALUE
The property is in acceptable condition for lending purposes.

• Flat roofing has a limited life and may fail without warning.
• Internal walls have been removed and remaining sections may be inadequately supported. You may need specialist advice to ensure compliance with statutory requirements.
• Parts of the properrt are thought to contain asbestos. You should take care when carrying out repairs, maintenance or renewal.

This report made me a bit nervous .... could anyone suggest my next action please ?

I had decided to go for a structural valuation anyways - Has anyone's mortgage offer also contained the above - Is this something they generally put for a 1930s house (as I didn't get the part about "flat" roofing)?

thanks in advance

Cakeguts

You can't have a 1930s Victorian house. It is either Edwardian or Georgian depending on the year? Queen Victoria died in 1901.

1930s houses are usually referred to as 1930s houses or sometimes tudorbethan because of the black and white thing and bay windows. Anyway it is a 1930s house not a Victorian one.

pinklady21

A flat roof is exactly that. It may be an extension or porch or garage? Equally it may be the main roof of the house, which you may or may not be able to see. If there is a parapet above the gutter, this may obscure whether it is a flat or a pitched roof.
The reason the surveyor is flagging it up is because of the material used to clad the roof. It is probably some kind of roofing felt, as opposed to a pitched roof, which would have slates or tiles on.
Get a roofer to look at it and advise you if there is a problem.

Similarly - the internal renovations, ask the seller to tell you more about them. When were they done? Was there a building warrant? Is there a completion certificate to show that the Council inspected the work and signed it off as complying with the building regs in force at the time?
You may need a structural engineer to advise you if the walls are properly supported now.

Asbestos was banned for building construction in, I think, 1990. So any property prior to then may contain some form of asbestos. The type varies, and is only a problem if the fibres escape.
this could happen as a result of deterioration or the material is disturbed during renovations. It was used for all sorts of things and could be in wall or ceiling panels, insulation material, or even in artex type textured paint. Google for more info on it.
Again - ask the seller what they know. If you are concerned you can get a specialist company in to inspect it and test samples of materials. As this is "destructive" testing the seller may not be prepared to allow you to do this.
However, do not panic at the sight of the word asbestos. It may not be a problem. You do not have enough info at this stage to decide whether it is an issue or not.

Slithery

All of those are standard clauses...

All flat roofs have a limited lifespan.

The surveyor isn't a qualified structural engineer, so can't legally say anything else.

Same as above, the surveyor isn't a qualified asbestos surveyor so can't advise you any further. All properties of that age may still contain asbestos.

GirlInKent

Thanks for such a detailed reply - really helps a lot ! I'll raise the queries to the seller as there was an extension done to the property.