Mis-Sold Property due to lack of PRC Certificate or Repairs, Mine, Banks or Solicitors Fault? Help.

Pombo

In 2016 I bought a property with my Ex Partner to which now we cant sell due to lenders not lending on Pre Fab Properties. But at the time we were not told about the problem in the final stages of the sale leading to a delay in the transfer date. We didn't pay for upgraded survey and went with the free one provided by solicitors, I understand that was a bad choice now from our part but as first time buyers we were oblivious to all this and solicitors didn't explain what was missing during the final stages then a random WALLS AND FOUNDATIONS SURVEY popped up that was over 10 years old and this was used to approve the cash from santander. We have been trying to sell the place for the last 3 years or complain to either Bank or Solicitors but replies take 4 weeks each time and as the years go on no one takes responsibility for the fault. We tried ombudsman but Santander closed the case down so they couldnt get envolved. Below is one of the emails we sent to clarify more details as there is so much I don't even know where to start explaining all of this.
Dear all, We have raised the complaint with the Santander and e-surv who did the conveyancing. Santander directed us to E-surv and e-surv said “ Unfortunately, it is not clear from your email why RG Solicitors never acted upon the requirement in Section 10 of the Santander Report to obtain confirmation that the property had either been repaired or would be repaired to an acceptable standard Now I am writing to complain about the fact that Santander accepted to give us a mortgage when the house we were purchasing did not qualify for a mortgage. The house in question is *************************************** This house is a Cornish Type 1 which is a pre-cast concrete property which under the Housing Defects Act 1984 is actually deemed defective and therefore non-mortgageable by all lenders unless it has been repaired to the correct standard and that there is a PRC certificate in place to state that the property has been repaired to an acceptable standard. I believe that this was completely missed by RG solicitors who *************** was our case worker and as a result we have been left with a property we cannot sell. Last year we put the house up on the market, not knowing that this was a non-standard construction. The sale unfortunately fell through because it came about that we needed to have a PRC certificate for the sale to progress. The reason, there is no certificate is because this house was never repaired in the past. When we purchased the property, you “RG solicitors “ forwarded a survey done by an engineer to say that the house was deemed safe and that there is no visible defects, “Walls and Foundations Survey” but no further investigation was made to know what exactly the house was constructed of. Also what was missed this survey report was over 10 years old when it was presented to the lenders. This is NOT a substitute for a PRC certificate. When speaking to Santander’s complaint department they said the only documents they had was this survey and that perhaps the reason the sale went through 3 years ago was because the survey was recently done and that now it is not suitable this time around because it was not done within the past 6 months. This cannot be true as the survey in question was done over 13 years ago!! At the moment we are now stuck with a house which has instantly lost value. We cannot sell until the proper repairs have been done, which could cost in the region of £50000. Even if we decide to keep the house, we cannot get a mortgage anywhere! Had you RG solicitors looked at the paperwork properly and only accepted the proper PRC certificate, I believe we would never have been in this position. Their requirements clearly state that a non-standard constructed house needs to have the proper repairs done to it with a PRC certificate to accompany this, only then will the funds be released. I would really appreciate you looking into this further without having to take further legal actions.

Thanks for any advice anyone has. 

Brock_and_Roll

OP, just to be clear, were RG Solicitors doing the conveyancing for you? And if so, they offered a survey as part of their package?
If that is true, what they have to say about this? Its would seem that they have not done a good job here aven though of course you should have taken a full survey.

As for Santander, they are also potentially victims here  - if you were to default, they are potentially exposed to a significant loss. The fact that they accidentally lent when it goes against their internal policy is really their problem - does not give you any recourse. After all, if it were somehow to be shown that you have been "mis-lent", the remedy would be to reverse the transaction i.e. you would have to repay the loan which does not really help you.

So in terms of moving forward, you do still have a mortgage with Santander which you are potentially stuck with? 

What would the house sell for if it went through auction in its current state (take the figure it would rent for per annum and divide it by a decent yield, say 7.5%. So if property would rent for £1,000 per month, that is £12,000 annually divided by 7.5% = £160,000). How does the figure you get to compare with the outstanding on the mortgage?

TBagpuss

I am not sure whether the solicitors would be at fault - if you didn't know the house was of non-standard constructions and the survey didn't pick it up, how would they have known?

Do you still have a copy of the survey? Are you sure that it was provided by the solicitors (as this would be unusual) and not simply the valuation report provided as part if your mortgage package?
If the survey identified that the property was of non-standard construction then yes,you would have expected the conveyancers to have picked this up and reported to you and to Santander. However, if it didn't, then it sounds as though the surveyor/valuer was the one at fault, but you would have to clarify whether they have a responsibility to you, or only to the lender, if you didn't pay for the valuation. 

lincroft1710

If the house has not been repaired, then it is fairly obviously a pre-cast concrete property and your purchase price should have reflected this. If it had been repaired by brick skinning or similar, it would actually be less obvious it was Cornish Type 1.