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Buying a 7 Year Old House Without a Warranty

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Hi, my first post but I feel the need for some assurance. I'm in the process of buying a 7 year old house. It's on a small development of 12 houses. It had a 10 year warranty supplied by the builder but the builder went bust a few years ago and all warranties became void. I know a few of the residents through my business and they didn't bother to get another warranty to cover them for the rest of the term. One resident did buy a warranty and it cost him something like £4k. I'm buying the property without needing a mortgage. My solicitor said that if I did need a mortgage the property would have to have a warranty before I could buy it. I'm thinking of going ahead and buying it anyway. I did have a survey done on it a few months back. My only concern is if the footings etc are good.

What would you do?
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Comments

  • Only you can assess the risk.
    But for others reading this, always ensure any warranties are insurance backed. Then if the developer/whoever goes bust the insurance company steps in.
  • Olinda99
    Olinda99 Posts: 2,042 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Third Anniversary Name Dropper
    one consideration is if you want to sell it within three years i.e before the 10-year warranty period you might find a problem
  • Why can't the vendor get insurance and transfer it to you on sale completion ? That way you have insurance, you are not paying for it and you aren't just taking a chance that everything will be ok.
  • I've probably bought 15-20 properties over the past 50+ years, none without any form of warranty.

    Never regretted doing so.  Saved the extra cost of the warranties.
  • user1977
    user1977 Posts: 17,783 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Seventh Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    Why can't the vendor get insurance and transfer it to you on sale completion ?
    Can you point us towards the "insurance" you're talking about? I doubt you can (easily) get cover for defects in a 7 year old property.
  • user1977 said:
    Why can't the vendor get insurance and transfer it to you on sale completion ?
    Can you point us towards the "insurance" you're talking about? I doubt you can (easily) get cover for defects in a 7 year old property.
    Please refer to the insurance (warranty) mentioned by the OP in their opening post.
  • user1977 said:
    Why can't the vendor get insurance and transfer it to you on sale completion ?
    Can you point us towards the "insurance" you're talking about? I doubt you can (easily) get cover for defects in a 7 year old property.
    You can (under some circumstances) get a retrospective construction warranty to cover the remaining period of the usual 10 year new home warranty either when one wasn't given or is no longer valid.
  • Olinda99 said:
    one consideration is if you want to sell it within three years i.e before the 10-year warranty period you might find a problem


    We won't be moving again. Definitely not within 3 years.
  • Why can't the vendor get insurance and transfer it to you on sale completion ? That way you have insurance, you are not paying for it and you aren't just taking a chance that everything will be ok.
    He has offered to pay for it but the way things have drawn out I doubt our buyers will wait for him to get a surveyor in and then issue a warranty/insurance. We want to exchange in 2 days time and complete in 11 days time.
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