Failed Survey

trudiha

Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

My lovely house failed its survey and my mortgage company are refusing to lend me a penny on it. According to the surveyor most of the back of the house 'is constructed of single skin brick work, 120mm thick and is potentially unstable and not considered acceptable for mortgage lending purposes.'

Here is the lovely house:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-16331398.rsp?pa_n=false&tr_t=buy


Now I know that it's not very sensible to still want a lovely house that's unstable but some of the nicest people I've every know have been unstable and I've always found them to be exciting.

My question is, if the vendor, a big house builder who took the house in part exchange, were will to accept £192k for this house when we both assumed it was mortgageable, how much shall I offer now that it's not?

frank.hopper

My question is, if the vendor, a big house builder who took the house in part exchange, were will to accept £192k for this house when we both assumed it was mortgageable, how much shall I offer now that it's not?

If it's 'not considered acceptable for mortgage purposes' offer them what the property is worth ........................ZERO!

PasturesNew

My sister had a house that pretty much looked like that. The mortgage company lent on it (this was years ago). The solution was to build a 2nd wall on the side of the house (reducing each room width by 9") from the ground all the way up to the roof.

This is a house for a builder/developer who doesn't need a mortgage.

You can't borrow money. If the mortgage company were happy to proceed but required you to do the work soonest, or if they said they'd hold back £10k until the work was done, you might be able to proceed. But they didn't. They've made you no offer so you can offer what you like you still won't be able to borrow the money.

Walk away now. It's better to have a broken heart over a house now than when you've over-borrowed, the back has become unstable, you can't afford to fix it and then you're trapped in a house you're scared to sleep in.

This house needs an entire new back end. Lots of time/money/cost.

Walk.

Although just read the house details and it says it's been extended to the rear. So I might not worry about this at all... but it could be very iffy. Hard to tell from reading the details, but looking at it they've done the house up ... and don't seem to have addressed any structural and potential lending issues. Which sounds like they didn't know what they were doing.

So it might just be a standard add on kitchen bit or something.... is it YOU they aren't lending TO, or the HOUSE they aren't lending ON?

Maybe your deposit's not big enough.

maninthestreet

So is this single brick wall at the rear of the property part of the extension or part of the original house. Either way, as the house is currently un-mortgageable due this this, you really have to find another property to buy, unless the vendor is prepared to make the required alterations to the house, at his own cost, to make it mortgageable.

poppysarah

Bad Extension = unmortgagable = run away.

Mutton_Geoff

Bad Extension = unmortgagable = investors financial opportunity

It looks like a cheap and nasty extension was done. Budget around £25-30k to pull that down and rebuild, small change in the actual value of the property. If you need to borrow the money secured on the house itself, then try another opinion.

If your heart is set on it, then I would pay for a proper independent full structural survey to get an in detail report. Beat the sellers around the head with it to get the price reduced (who else are they going to sell to?). Let's see, £210k in this market, if all was OK, an offer of £185k wouldn't be too cheeky. Now deduct your potential costs, I'd be in there with a copy of a structural survey and a £150-160k offer.

On second thoughts, looks like there is a parking restriction. Might be a bigger problem if you have to park 1/2 mile away

poppysarah

And a full electrical survey ... if the building works been bodged then who knows about the elecs. Did it get building control certificates? Some councils have info about this online.

But it'll be a nightmare. You may not be able to live in it whilst it has work done on it, so you'd need to factor in temporary accomdation, storage of your stuff and potentially huge insurance costs if the building work has affected neighbouring property.

Hestia

£210K for a 2 bed terrace? You can have my 4 bed detached in Yorkshire for that! I'm glad I moved up North when I did

Sorry about your situation, but surely it's best to look elsewhere for your dream home, especially with the market the way it is? Wait a while and jump when the market has fallen...Merely my opinion!

mlz1413

trudiha wrote: »

Now I know that it's not very sensible to still want a lovely house that's unstable but some of the nicest people I've every know have been unstable and I've always found them to be exciting.

How exciting do you want your home to be? take this senario :
CRASH, oohh the back of my house has just fallen down - isn't that exciting!! :eek: Homes aren't supposed to unstable!


If you really love the house go to the builder with your survey results ask if they will do work to make it mortgageable and you will buy from them at original offer price / less due to extra wait.

trudiha

Thank you all for your advice.

Oddly enough, this is one of the few houses of this style I've seen with a legitimate extension. It was given consent and passed building regulations at the time it was built in 1987. I've got all of the paperwork and I've phoned the planning department of the local authority to make sure that it's in order. So it was good enough when it was built. Additionally it's stood there for the last 20 years without any problems.

You are all absolutely right that I'd be taking a risk with this house, I know that I'd not be able to sell it to anyone else until the works had been carried out and that insurance is going to be a problem. However, I've got £50k cash and I'd be able to take out an unsecured loan of £53k. It would take me five years to pay off the loan and after that I could look at fixing the problem with the walls. That would mean that in 5yrs time I'd be mortgage/debt free and I'm finding that very tempting.

I wondered if there was any kind of formula for working out how much less a house is worth when it's unmortgageable?

If X is the value of the house in reasonable repair, is it worth X less the cost of repairs or does being unmortgagable take a further percentage off?

silvercar

Someone else will know for definite (google around or ask the council), I would have thought building regs wouldn't have been signed off in 1987 if there was only a single brick width wall.

Could the surveyor have made an error?