What constitutes a habitable house/kitchen?

TrickeyD

I wanted to respond to a thread started by @MHF123 in the exact situation we have found ourselves, and was hoping to find out how their story ended - but the original thread has been closed:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5600666/definiition-of-working-kitchen-for-mortgage-purposes

We were given the exact same advice by the same lender before starting our project. I trusted what I was told by their representative, but I now obviously know I should have done more research and discovered the destination between habitable/uninhabitable myself - particularly when this much money is at stake.

We have a working temporary kitchen with a working tap and sink (with waste) over a kitchen cabinet, a portable double hob, and a microwave/oven.
The house has no holes in it minus a couple of windows that could be fixed pretty quickly. There is no boiler currently, but that would be fitted by the time they come to value the property.

Basically I want to know, if we allow a valuation to take place, would this be sufficient to count the house as habitable?
Also - if they deemed it not to be, and we were forced to find another source of funding - is it possible it could effect the existing mortgage?

@MHF123 - if you are still on the site, I would love to hear how your situation ended up being resolved! Thanks!

eddddy

FWIW, here's an extract from Santander's "Residential Lending Policy – Guidance for Valuers" (but this version is about 7 or 8 years old - so it might have changed).




So the key deciding point could be the valuer's opinion on whether the property is "readily saleable for owner occupation across the entire market". 

I suspect that the valuer's opinion will be based on checklist items - like a working kitchen, working bathroom, weathertight - plus the valuer's overall impression of the property. (i.e. If the lender had to repossess and sell the property, would a typical owner/occupier buy it in its current condition?)



Edit to add...

Is this is a property you've recently bought (maybe for cash) for renovation? If so, if you've owned it for less than 6 months, that will be flagged up for 'extra investigation'.