My house is under offer but myMy buyers can't get a mortgage because I have two kitchens

rvergano

Hi I've accepted a good offer on my house, however my buyers have hit a brick wall applying for a (highstreet) mortgage - a huge number of lenders have turned them down because my house has a second kitchen in the basement. My estate agent is now urging me to I remove the entire kitchen in the basement - a cooker and drawers in a recess (that used to be a chimney breast), and a separate sink & drainer with small work surface and cupboards under. Would it work though if I just removed the built-in electric oven with gas hob over, and left the sink and units in place? And also turned off the gas connection to where the hob was, and make it good where cooker was - put a piece of work surface in with shelves under, for instance. It's a very basic kitchen anyway. Surely a kitchen can't be classified as a kitchen if it has NO cooker or hob?! With only a sink and a few units, would my basement not just be classified as a utility room (it already has a laundry room off)?
My buyers could instead get a mortgage from a building society who will lend with a second kitchen in place, but will lend 20K less than a highstreet mortgage lender would. Does this mean I either have to take out the entire kitchen in the basement (including the sink & under units), or accept £20K less from my buyers so they can get their mortgage from a building society? My basement also has a shower & WC in it. The basement doesn't have its own separate entrance from the street though - entrance is through the front door of the property and down a flight of internal stairs. The back door into the basement opens into the back garden, which is enclosed with a roller shutter - so again the basement has no separate rear entrance from the rest of the house. Any advice gladly received... ASAP! Thanks.

NinjaTune

Haven't heard of this issue before re: not offering a mortgage due to 2nd kitchen - did they say why?

On a separate note, why do you have a 2nd kitchen in the basement? 

hazyjo

I'd remove it all or maybe create an obvious utility area. Trouble is, it looks to a lender (on paper) like it could be let out.

(Especially if you stand to lose twenty grand and have a very limited selection of buyers!)

Petriix

I'm not sure what the lenders' issue is, but it seems trivial to remove the cooker and just call it a utility room (or storage, whatever). I wonder what drew attention to the second kitchen. Was it advertised as a selling point or did it come up in a survey?

hazyjo

NinjaTune said:

Haven't heard of this issue before re: not offering a mortgage due to 2nd kitchen - did they say why?

It's a pretty standard thing. You gonna don't hear about it often as not many houses have two kitchens unless it's in an annexe.

eddddy

People have reported in the past that removing the cooker / oven and calling it a utility room or laundry room has been sufficient. But it's up to the valuer to decide.

You say there's a laundry room as well - but maybe replacing the cooker with a tumble dryer etc would help.

Flugelhorn

I have seen houses that have what could almost be a second kitchen and is advertised as a very well equipped utility room - this explains it.

Norman_Castle

Does the buyer want this basement kitchen? Could you carefully uninstall them and store them in the basement. No need to make good if this buyer is happy with whats left.

princeofpounds

hazyjo said:

NinjaTune said:

Haven't heard of this issue before re: not offering a mortgage due to 2nd kitchen - did they say why?

It's a pretty standard thing. You gonna don't hear about it often as not many houses have two kitchens unless it's in an annexe.

All observant Jewish houses have two kitchens (meat and dairy) and sometimes a third mini-kitchen for passover. Must have been some Rabbi with an interest in a kitchen sales outlet back in the day...

Anyway, I suspect it would be enough to disconnect the appliances (there are more than likely isolation switches and valves that make this trivial) and then say it's been removed. It is now a storage and utility room, used to store a spare sink and cooker amongst other things.

Rambosmum

Seems very odd - round here loads of houses have second kitchens due to the large Orthodox Jewish community, no one seems to have an issue buying those houses, I know people who have bought them - no Jewish people, and not used a Jewish based lender. 

You could probably get away with removing the cooker and calling it a "work shop" or utility. 

hazyjo

princeofpounds said:

hazyjo said:

NinjaTune said:

Haven't heard of this issue before re: not offering a mortgage due to 2nd kitchen - did they say why?

It's a pretty standard thing. You gonna don't hear about it often as not many houses have two kitchens unless it's in an annexe.

All observant Jewish houses have two kitchens (meat and dairy) and sometimes a third mini-kitchen for passover. Must have been some Rabbi with an interest in a kitchen sales outlet back in the day...

Anyway, I suspect it would be enough to disconnect the appliances (there are more than likely isolation switches and valves that make this trivial) and then say it's been removed. It is now a storage and utility room, used to store a spare sink and cooker amongst other things.

I was aware and should've added "unless for reasons of faith/ religion)".