Mortgage valuation £0

mininoel

I need some advice, I am selling my property I had a buyer and all went well their mortgage offer approved and all legal fine but basically the purchasers could not decide on any kind of date to exchange or complete. They had a home buyers survey and mortgage valuation as part of their purchase in November 2020. This showed no areas as a 3 except the gas and electric as they were not trained inspectors and such wording and a some things as a 2 and agreed with a valuation of £187,000. Well that all fell through as explained above and now I have new buyers who have just had a valuation and homebuyer survey...it’s come back as valuation £0 and wouldn’t recommend lending as is timber frame and single skinned. This has not ever come up as in issue when I got a mortgage for it or when my neighbours (terraced houses) have and as an ex council estate there many properties which have the same construction and they have all sold without this issue. Apparently it is the single skin causing the biggest issue but my estate agent doesn’t believe it is single skin, how can I prove this and what options do I have, is my house unsaleable if you can’t get a mortgage on it, is it even the case you can’t when another bank lent on it just a couple of months ago. Any advice please

NameUnavailable

Is this an ESW1 issue? It's not meant to apply to houses but some lenders do.

mininoel

NameUnavailable said:

Is this an ESW1 issue? It's not meant to apply to houses but some lenders do.

I don’t know what an ESW1 issue means, where would I find that information?

NameUnavailable

Sorry should be EWS1 - external wall system. Massive problem for flat owners (google it or search on Twitter) but it has been known for lenders to ask for it on houses too.

The best bet is to find another buyer whose lender will hopefully take a less strict view (or ask you buyer to try another lender although I expect they'd already be spooked by the zero valuation).

youth_leader

I wasn't sure either, this explains it.

The Cladding External Wall System (EWS) (parliament.uk)

NameUnavailable

As for determining the construction I expect you will need a structural engineers report.

mininoel

Thanks, I think the £0 valuation has scared them but also the report has put things like a 3 for the roof as ‘the roof is tiled and tiles may slip and this may cause injury to a person or damage to the property’ so does that mean all tiled roofs need immediate attention as a tile may slip at any stage, there is no mention of tiles having slipped, in fact there is a comment to say they couldn’t see the roof. 

FreeBear

How old is the property ?

mininoel

Built in the 1960s or 1970s I’m not entirely sure which

princeofpounds

Lenders have become far less keen to lend on single-skin houses in recent years, unfortunately. What used to be considered part of standard - if low quality - construction has crept into being treated as non-standard. The rules vary from lender to lender, but they particularly don't like it when it's more than a small area of the walls, or it's more than one storey. This article is basically marketing from a broker, but it gives you an idea of the situation:

https://www.onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk/property-types/single-brick-construction-mortgage/

It is possible that the property is not single skin. Surveyors do sometimes get this wrong, though I wouldn't say it is likely. How can you prove it? If you can measure the thickness of the walls you can have a good guess yourself. The formal step would be to commission your own survey paying particular attention to this point. However, this specific lender may well listen to their surveyor and nothing else, so don't get your hopes up in this specific instance. But it may be enough for the buyers to realise that the fault lies on their side, if indeed it does.

You also need to bear in mind that there could be other non-standard aspects to your construction that could cause an issue, so the more complete the information you can get, the better.

NameUnavailable

mininoel said:

Thanks, I think the £0 valuation has scared them but also the report has put things like a 3 for the roof as ‘the roof is tiled and tiles may slip and this may cause injury to a person or damage to the property’ so does that mean all tiled roofs need immediate attention as a tile may slip at any stage, there is no mention of tiles having slipped, in fact there is a comment to say they couldn’t see the roof. 

Oh yes, deathly tiles! What else, windows are made of glass and if that breaks it cause injury and death? Gas pipes are present and gas can cause deathly explosions? The house is built on the ground and if you dig a hole and jump in and cover yourself in earth you may die!!!!