Buying/Funding a renovation property

se2020

So, I'm looking at a property that is currently unmortagable (by normal residential standards)

Firstly, it's one house that has been divided into 2 separate dwellings. There are 2 separate lots of council tax and 2 addresses (10a and 10b)
It is on one set of title deeds.

Secondly,  neither of these places have been lived in for 5yrs+ 
Both have "kitchens" although these only consist of stand-alone sinks.
Water and electricity are both, at least turned off at the property,  if not turned off by the suppliers.

Thirdly , the overall house is in a state of dis-repair. Gaps in the tiles, rot in the roof timbers, broken glass/rotten frames in several of the windows, 
Approximately 1/3 of the house is an extension that the previous owner appears to have built himself. Although it doesn't look like it's about to fall down the state of the block work is shocking (ie, none of it is stright in any direction) although the blocks/morter itself is all solid.
Additionally,  there is a further single story extension that is single skin block only which is attached to a large "conservatory" of wood frame and plastic sheet construction. 

I can not find any planning permission for the extension. In fact the only planning record I can find for the house is an application for a conservatory which was denied!

Now, the extension was built in 1970 (original house is 1800's)
The planning refusal for the conservatory was 1985 and I would imagine it was built not long after that.

Having spoken to various brokers etc it seems my only option would be to take a bridging loan to purchase the property, do the work to take it to a mortagable standard then switch to a normal mortgage after 1yr.

Questions 

My main question is, how do I know what work will be required to take this property to a mortgagable standard within a year?
My main worry is after a year of work I won't be able to get a normal mortgage against it to pay off the bridging loan.

Obviously I will need to change the status back to a single residential property, remove one kitchen and fit a single working one, fix the roof, fix the windows.

What about the planning for the extension/conservatory?
I'm guessing, as they have been standing for 40yrs+ then it won't be an issue?
Although,  if the standard of construction does not meet regulations will it be a problem for a retrospective planning application if required?

How about on a mortgage survey?
Will they want to check the planning status? Bearing in mind that I will already own the property by the time the mortgage application is made.

What about the single-skin extension?
If this is an issue, would it be feasible to get planning permission to change it to cavity construction,  demolish it before the mortgage survey, rebuild properly at a later date?

What if the main extension does not pass a survey? I'm guessing it was just badly/quickly built (it's been standing for 50yrs) but its possible it might have originally been ok and the foundations sunk at some stage. There are no signs of recent movement. 

Anything else I'm not thinking of??

I suppose the simple question would be,
Can I book/pay for my own survey before purchase?
Basically I would want the survey to give me a list of jobs that would need doing before I could gain a normal residential mortgage.
Could I then be pretty certain that it would pass a bank survey in a year's time if those jobs were completed?
Could I go as far as identifying a potential lender and using the same surveyor they would use?

Thanks if you've read this far!

user1977

Planning for ancient alterations is irrelevant. Similarly with building regulations (which are a separate matter - you seem to be conflating them).

It would be normal for you to get a survey (of any property) before you purchase it. Yes, you can use the same surveyor that reports to the lender.

K_S

@se2020 To answer your questions (combining the info from your other post)

Can I book/pay for my own survey before purchase?
Yes. Though if you have a builder father and mates in the trades, their pre-purchase opinions would be far more practically useful than a surveyor's, for the kind of property you've outlined.

Basically I would want the survey to give me a list of jobs that would need doing before I could gain a normal residential mortgage.
Could I then be pretty certain that it would pass a bank survey in a year's time if those jobs were completed?
For the kind of property you've described, I doubt you're going to get a surveyor to give a solid opinion of what exactly you need to do that would make it mortgageable to an average residential lender. They should be happy to give you a general idea though, nothing that they can be held accountable for if that makes sense. You could get a good idea yourself by reviewing a mainstream surveyor's valuer manual, like this one for Nationwide https://nonstandardhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/wpforo/default_attachments/1541599588-361Valuers-Nationwide-Whole-Manual-11-March-2016.pdf

Could I go as far as identifying a potential lender and using the same surveyor they would use?
Lender - Yes. If it's a standard freehold house in a mortgageable state (after you've refurbed it), then it's practically any mainstream lender subject to other non-property related criteria.
Surveyor - Very unlikely to be honest. Generally speaking, large mainstream lenders farm out their valuations to large surveyor panels like L&G, Countrywide, etc. They then give it out to a local (or not so local) firm based on availability, etc. So you're need an enormous dollop of luck to be able to use the same surveyor to do a pre-purchase survey now and for the lender's surveyor panel to instruct the same surveyor in 6 months time.

se2020 said:

So, I'm looking at a property that is currently unmortagable (by normal residential standards)

Firstly, it's one house that has been divided into 2 separate dwellings. There are 2 separate lots of council tax and 2 addresses (10a and 10b)
It is on one set of title deeds.

Secondly,  neither of these places have been lived in for 5yrs+ 
Both have "kitchens" although these only consist of stand-alone sinks.
Water and electricity are both, at least turned off at the property,  if not turned off by the suppliers.

Thirdly , the overall house is in a state of dis-repair. Gaps in the tiles, rot in the roof timbers, broken glass/rotten frames in several of the windows, 
Approximately 1/3 of the house is an extension that the previous owner appears to have built himself. Although it doesn't look like it's about to fall down the state of the block work is shocking (ie, none of it is stright in any direction) although the blocks/morter itself is all solid.
Additionally,  there is a further single story extension that is single skin block only which is attached to a large "conservatory" of wood frame and plastic sheet construction. 

I can not find any planning permission for the extension. In fact the only planning record I can find for the house is an application for a conservatory which was denied!

Now, the extension was built in 1970 (original house is 1800's)
The planning refusal for the conservatory was 1985 and I would imagine it was built not long after that.

Having spoken to various brokers etc it seems my only option would be to take a bridging loan to purchase the property, do the work to take it to a mortagable standard then switch to a normal mortgage after 1yr.

Questions 

My main question is, how do I know what work will be required to take this property to a mortgagable standard within a year?
My main worry is after a year of work I won't be able to get a normal mortgage against it to pay off the bridging loan.

Obviously I will need to change the status back to a single residential property, remove one kitchen and fit a single working one, fix the roof, fix the windows.

What about the planning for the extension/conservatory?
I'm guessing, as they have been standing for 40yrs+ then it won't be an issue?
Although,  if the standard of construction does not meet regulations will it be a problem for a retrospective planning application if required?

How about on a mortgage survey?
Will they want to check the planning status? Bearing in mind that I will already own the property by the time the mortgage application is made.

What about the single-skin extension?
If this is an issue, would it be feasible to get planning permission to change it to cavity construction,  demolish it before the mortgage survey, rebuild properly at a later date?

What if the main extension does not pass a survey? I'm guessing it was just badly/quickly built (it's been standing for 50yrs) but its possible it might have originally been ok and the foundations sunk at some stage. There are no signs of recent movement. 

Anything else I'm not thinking of??

I suppose the simple question would be,
Can I book/pay for my own survey before purchase?
Basically I would want the survey to give me a list of jobs that would need doing before I could gain a normal residential mortgage.
Could I then be pretty certain that it would pass a bank survey in a year's time if those jobs were completed?
Could I go as far as identifying a potential lender and using the same surveyor they would use?

Thanks if you've read this far!

se2020

K_S said:

@se2020 To answer your questions (combining the info from your other post)

Can I book/pay for my own survey before purchase?
Yes. Though if you have a builder father and mates in the trades, their pre-purchase opinions would be far more practically useful than a surveyor's, for the kind of property you've outlined.

Basically I would want the survey to give me a list of jobs that would need doing before I could gain a normal residential mortgage.
Could I then be pretty certain that it would pass a bank survey in a year's time if those jobs were completed?
For the kind of property you've described, I doubt you're going to get a surveyor to give a solid opinion of what exactly you need to do that would make it mortgageable to an average residential lender. They should be happy to give you a general idea though, nothing that they can be held accountable for if that makes sense. You could get a good idea yourself by reviewing a mainstream surveyor's valuer manual, like this one for Nationwide https://nonstandardhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/wpforo/default_attachments/1541599588-361Valuers-Nationwide-Whole-Manual-11-March-2016.pdf

Could I go as far as identifying a potential lender and using the same surveyor they would use?
Lender - Yes. If it's a standard freehold house in a mortgageable state (after you've refurbed it), then it's practically any mainstream lender subject to other non-property related criteria.
Surveyor - Very unlikely to be honest. Generally speaking, large mainstream lenders farm out their valuations to large surveyor panels like L&G, Countrywide, etc. They then give it out to a local (or not so local) firm based on availability, etc. So you're need an enormous dollop of luck to be able to use the same surveyor to do a pre-purchase survey now and for the lender's surveyor panel to instruct the same surveyor in 6 months time.

se2020 said:

So, I'm looking at a property that is currently unmortagable (by normal residential standards)

Firstly, it's one house that has been divided into 2 separate dwellings. There are 2 separate lots of council tax and 2 addresses (10a and 10b)
It is on one set of title deeds.

Secondly,  neither of these places have been lived in for 5yrs+ 
Both have "kitchens" although these only consist of stand-alone sinks.
Water and electricity are both, at least turned off at the property,  if not turned off by the suppliers.

Thirdly , the overall house is in a state of dis-repair. Gaps in the tiles, rot in the roof timbers, broken glass/rotten frames in several of the windows, 
Approximately 1/3 of the house is an extension that the previous owner appears to have built himself. Although it doesn't look like it's about to fall down the state of the block work is shocking (ie, none of it is stright in any direction) although the blocks/morter itself is all solid.
Additionally,  there is a further single story extension that is single skin block only which is attached to a large "conservatory" of wood frame and plastic sheet construction. 

I can not find any planning permission for the extension. In fact the only planning record I can find for the house is an application for a conservatory which was denied!

Now, the extension was built in 1970 (original house is 1800's)
The planning refusal for the conservatory was 1985 and I would imagine it was built not long after that.

Having spoken to various brokers etc it seems my only option would be to take a bridging loan to purchase the property, do the work to take it to a mortagable standard then switch to a normal mortgage after 1yr.

Questions 

My main question is, how do I know what work will be required to take this property to a mortgagable standard within a year?
My main worry is after a year of work I won't be able to get a normal mortgage against it to pay off the bridging loan.

Obviously I will need to change the status back to a single residential property, remove one kitchen and fit a single working one, fix the roof, fix the windows.

What about the planning for the extension/conservatory?
I'm guessing, as they have been standing for 40yrs+ then it won't be an issue?
Although,  if the standard of construction does not meet regulations will it be a problem for a retrospective planning application if required?

How about on a mortgage survey?
Will they want to check the planning status? Bearing in mind that I will already own the property by the time the mortgage application is made.

What about the single-skin extension?
If this is an issue, would it be feasible to get planning permission to change it to cavity construction,  demolish it before the mortgage survey, rebuild properly at a later date?

What if the main extension does not pass a survey? I'm guessing it was just badly/quickly built (it's been standing for 50yrs) but its possible it might have originally been ok and the foundations sunk at some stage. There are no signs of recent movement. 

Anything else I'm not thinking of??

I suppose the simple question would be,
Can I book/pay for my own survey before purchase?
Basically I would want the survey to give me a list of jobs that would need doing before I could gain a normal residential mortgage.
Could I then be pretty certain that it would pass a bank survey in a year's time if those jobs were completed?
Could I go as far as identifying a potential lender and using the same surveyor they would use?

Thanks if you've read this far!

Thanks!

My various "trade mates" have looked/priced up and so on,
They all know exactly what needs doing but none of us can really work out what's the minimum that needs doing now to secure a regular mortgage..

For example, the electrics, none of it is safe, half of it is lead cable,  half of the sockets are round pins, damaged, hanging out the walls etc.

For a mortgage survey, 
Could we just fit a new fuse box to the incoming supply, run power/lights to the kitchen and put a single light bulb in the bathroom & living room?
Disconnect the remaining wiring and make safe.

Or would they want to see power/lights in every room?
All the damaged/old wiring removed?

Smae with the roof,
Just replace the missing tiles & make watertight,
Add new timbers alongside all the rotten bits to make the structure sound?

Or would they want it re-roofed with modern membrane/insulation and all traces of rot removed?

The link you posted to the valuers manual may well answer these questions and be very valuable,  thank you!

se2020

I think I'd need a survey for a regulated bridging loan anyway.
I'd think the results from that along with the dad/mates advice should be fine.

What sort of time frame would a lender be looking at for a mortgage on a property I already own?

Could I apply for a regular mortgage at say, the 8mth mark, get them to send a surveyor out so I could see what work needs doing whilst I still had 4mths to do it?

Obviously if it passes and I could pay off the bridging loan early that would be a bonus!

user1977

For a regular mortgage they will (almost certainly) need a valuer to report on the property once sufficient works are completed - they're not going to take your word for it that you've finished it off.