what's the point of all this DIY? (house move nightmare)

Hi,

I have been a keen DIYer for several years now. I have rennovated 3=20 houses over 15 years. I can't see how I have caused anyone any=20 problems. All 3 houses are still standing and are much safer, much=20 prettier and much more valuable...

Recently I have tried to move to house number 4 - a dilapidated=20 bungalow. At =A3225,000 it would leave me =A375,000 to do the place up. I=20 planned new everything and an extension.

This is now not going to happen - cos I can't get a mortgage. I've had=20 two surveyors round and one said 'the mortgage company would not offer=20 a mortgage' and the other said 'congratulations, we are pleased to=20 offer you a mortgage of =A3190,000... with a retention of =A3190,000 until=20 you do the following jobs (proceeded to list all the electics, all the=20 plumbing, the roof and the walls!)

As a side issue, I am being hastled by my solicitor because I told the=20 truth on my housemove questionaire. - two windows I had put in in 1999=20

- 'where is the FENSA certificate?' a steel lintle i had put in in=20

2000 'where is the building control notice?' a new consumer unit I had=20 put in by a qualified electician in 2002 'where is the electrical test=20 certificate'... It will cost me a packet just to get people out to=20 check all this... Grrr

The little old lady (in her 80's) who lives in this bungalow I was=20 buying is now going to be disapointed - and instead of getting=20 =A3225,000 from me, she will have to put it to auction or take offers=20 from a developer - which will mean she can't afford the next property=20 she is really wanting.

Is this really a free country? Can this really be the future? When did=20 we ever vote on this? Why do DIY chains exist if you can't use the=20 stuff they sell? How on earth do we change any of this?

Philip

Reply to
Philipj.cosson
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Paranoia does tend to wear you down, doesn't it?

Reply to
nog

You dont need a FENSA certificate for a window installed in 1999, just show them the invoice for the CU and tell them to take it or leave it. The lintel is more problematic.

Reply to
FKruger

I've fallen foul of this myself in the past - property not inhabitable as defined by the Housing Act therefore 100% mortgage retention, and I had to walk away. Bloody ridiculous. I'm sure there are lenders out there who will lend under such circumstances; the trick is to find who they are before you've paid out on arrangement fees and surveyors etc.

I think you probably need to do it via a bank loan rather than a mortgage; obviously much more expensive - then work like crazy on the specific Housing Act criteria until the place can be defined as 'inhabitable' (might need a temporary kitchen sink/toilet/bath installed; that sort of thing) then apply for a mortgage ASAP.

The fact that rewiring appears to be one of the mortgage criteria would I have thought make this idea pretty well impossible in the case of your property though - hard to do a quick lash-up there. :-(

David

Reply to
Lobster

When I bought this place in the '70s (and mortgages were *far* more difficult to get) the building society insisted on several works *before* completion. Rewiring. Attention to a leaking gutter. Woodworm and rot warranty. Electricity and gas supplies to be on single meters. One kitchen removed. (It wasn't actually two self contained flats as it was a mother and daughter that once shared the house, but had two kitchens and metering) My solicitor arranged for two weeks of access to the by now empty house. before completion and I took those two weeks off work. A specialist firm attended to the wet rot and treated all the timber. Good job too. Another did the guttering. Cowboys. I ripped out one kitchen and did a *very* basic re-wire onto the one meter disconnecting and removing the other myself, as the LEB couldn't give me an appointment within the time scale. Got the gas board to cut and cap the pipe in the cellar going to the second gas meter and remove it.

Got the mortgage ok. Their surveyor wasn't happy about the fact that I'd removed the ground floor (original) kitchen and left the upstairs one in what would have been a bedroom. I explained it was temporary as I wanted to do a new decent kitchen downstairs and having a temp working one would be handy - and that he should have specified *exactly* what he wanted. ;-)

It's amazing what can be done in a couple of weeks if you really have to.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Have you tried the Ecology Building Society? I've heard they'll support projects other lenders won't touch.

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Reply to
Mick6

See

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Reply to
Lobster

naa, not hard. One CU, string cable across the wall into each room, pair of double sockets each, one ceiling light, forget about flush mouting or neat lines, just tack it quickly to the wall and it'll serve till a nice neat full system goes in.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Remind him it was not a requirement at the time they were installed.

Tell him there is not one, and say you will arrange building regs imdemnity insurance to cover any risk (i.e. none - hence the insurance is cheap).

Predates part P, so while it would be nice to have the cert, it is not a requirement. For example you could have done it yourself and produced no official paperwork and it still would be legal.

Remind you solicitor who he is working for!

I am sure there will be a "sub prime" lender who specialises in these sorts of risk (for a price). Have you tried a broker?

nope

Reply to
John Rumm

Thanks for posting the link to ecology - they have said to me today that this is a building that they woulddefinitely like to save from a developer and would probably offer on!

Unfortunately they only operate a 3x salary multiplier, which we can't work with on this one!

Philip

Lobster wrote:

Reply to
Philipj.cosson

I might be called paranoid if I were warning someone that this might happen

Not sure I can be called paranoid if this is reallly happening!

Reply to
Philipj.cosson

Tell him you will charge him £120 for each one you have to produce. That will make him focus!

Dave

Reply to
gort

Oh..I had all this crap when selling my mothers house.

In the end I just said 'I haven't got them. What are you going to do about it?' With another two people very interested that shut the bastards up.

Just buy 120 quids worth of liability insurance and give it to the purchaser.

Tell him to claim against it if there are any issues.

In the end houses are sold 'as seen' and if they don't like it they can piss off and buy an different one.

The lawyers make money and cover their arses with all this prevarication. Its their job to point out to their clients all the things that MIGHT conceivably go badly wrong..like having to demolish an extension that hasn't got planning permission etc.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Is that still true? - I suppose unless the mortgage has a retention on it...

Phil

Reply to
Philipj.cosson

I like the sound of this approach. Does it work with Part P stuff too?

Reply to
Frank Lee Speke-King

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