Would you ever even consider a house of "non-standard construction"? (Concrete)

[needanewidea]

Would you ever even consider buying a house of non-standard construction? 1930s concrete, to be precise.

What if it meant you could afford an extra room and be in the area of town you want to be in?

I know mortgaging these is difficult but is it possible?

I wouldn't unless it was incredibly cheap. Some were better built than others , it would need an expert who knows all about pre fab houses. Aside from the mortgage selling on will be difficult because not many people will take a chance on one.

It very much depends on the type of non standard - some are black listed but others are not.

I bought a 'wimpey no fines' 3 bed house, (1950s concrete) was very easy to get a mortgage on and had no issues whatsoever, great house.

Was a bargain!!

Not sure if it's the same but I live in an ex council flat made of concrete and didn't have any trouble getting a mortgage on it at the time.

I wouldn’t, simply because lenders’ criteria do change over time and can be borrower-specific so you can’t always guarantee that just because you can get a mortgage now that anybody else could in x years time when you want to sell on. I had no trouble getting a mortgage for my first flat which was ex-council and non-standard and nor apparently did the person I bought it from - but by the time I came to sell it only a handful of mainstream lenders would touch it and they wanted a relatively large deposit.

It’s frustrating because so often it’s a blanket criteria about a particular type of construction when some non-standard properties are better built and likely to withstand more than many newer standard buildings.

Yes I've lived in a non standard construction for 15 yrs and now just a selling, purchasers have their mortgage in place now. Generally if there were 50 mortgage companies, only 10 would do non standard.

My concern would be selling it on.

If it was a dream/forever house or whatever you want to call it then i'd have no worries. If it's somewhere you plan on moving on from then I'd be hesitant.

Half the houses on Grand Designs are 'non standard construction' but it doesn't exactly impact on their desirability!

Thanks for the replies everyone, much appreciated.

The house is mine, I'm not sure if it's concrete construction or not. I bought it outright about a decade ago, and it did come up then and I thought we'd established it wasn't concrete. But we had massive issues with the conveyancer (which I won't bore you with here) and when a house only 3 doors up on our road went up for sale a few weeks ago and was listed as cash-only as it's concrete I looked into this again. And now, I don't think the surveyor looked at it at all. It simply says "assumed brick" on his report.

It's a 1930s council house. A local estate agent has given me a map that shows most of local houses are definitely concrete. Mine isn't marked as concrete but looks roughly the same style as the other from the outside. They're all part of the same 1930s development. Some, over to the west of us are definitely brick.

My house is marked with the red circle. The ones marked black are concrete.

But a house round the corner that also looks similar sold recently and that wasn't advertised as cash only I don't think.

I want to relocate and I'm nervous about getting stuck here. I think I'll probably have to get another surveyor in? (After lockdown?).

The estate agent who gave me the map didn't say the ones marked white aren't concrete, only that the ones marked black definitely are.

Does anyone know how I can find out if it's concrete without getting a surveyor in?

Can you have a phone call with a local surveyor and ask? Most of the surveyors around here would be able to tell you from the street name.

Does anyone know how I can find out if it's concrete without getting a surveyor in?

The guy who did my EPC for £40 was able to tell me all about the construction of the house, that may be worth doing? You'll need an EPC anyway.

If its on a council estate and the rest are concrete I'd bet money that yours is too.
MIL lives in one with no bother, Santander do mortgages on them. They definitely have a ceiling price though and don't rise as fast as standard construction

Are you prepared to say where it is?

The problem with concrete is corrosion of the reinforcing steel bars and the concrete around them.

There are records of London CC estates and their construction which you can look at on line. There were various types of concrete house! See if you can find a record of your estate. It’s obviously quite big.

It would seem condition is everything and if remedial works has been done (if necessary) it might be ok regarding lenders.

@Darkestseasonofall

If its on a council estate and the rest are concrete I'd bet money that yours is too. MIL lives in one with no bother, Santander do mortgages on them. They definitely have a ceiling price though and don't rise as fast as standard construction

That's the thing - it's a relatively large council estate, the houses to the west are brick and to the east are concrete. We're in the middle of the divide.

Great to hear Santander do mortgages on them, I'll speak to them. I'm hoping if it is concrete I can be upfront with potential buyers and point them in the direction of information on who may lend to them so they know it's not impossible.

@PresentingPercy

Are you prepared to say where it is?

The problem with concrete is corrosion of the reinforcing steel bars and the concrete around them.

There are records of London CC estates and their construction which you can look at on line. There were various types of concrete house! See if you can find a record of your estate. It’s obviously quite big.

It would seem condition is everything and if remedial works has been done (if necessary) it might be ok regarding lenders.

We're not in London but we are in the South East of England.

@HapHap

The guy who did my EPC for £40 was able to tell me all about the construction of the house, that may be worth doing? You'll need an EPC anyway.

That sounds a lot cheaper than a surveyor, useful info, thanks!

@woooweeeee

Can you have a phone call with a local surveyor and ask? Most of the surveyors around here would be able to tell you from the street name.

Worth a try, thanks!

But we had massive issues with the conveyancer

Sorry I'm not sure why I wrote that! It's the surveyor we had problems with.

You still might find historic details of the exact construction if you google history of your estate. Builder etc. The 1930s was a period when bricks became available again to build the large number of homes still needed after ww1. So estates were mixed build.

We are in an ex council flat made of concrete. Had no trouble getting a mortgage on it 4 years ago but with banks being more cautious currently they are near impossible to mortgage without huge interest rates and I'm afraid we have had to see very cheap to a cash buyer

@PresentingPercy

You still might find historic details of the exact construction if you google history of your estate. Builder etc. The 1930s was a period when bricks became available again to build the large number of homes still needed after ww1. So estates were mixed build.

I was hoping to, but I'm not even sure what the estate is called! Everyone locally calls this area of town a specific name, but that area is bigger than just this estate and includes Victorian houses plus newer builds.

I've found it on old maps (fascinating to see the progress, it was built over several years and you can see the progress on maps over time). I was hoping one of them would give me the name of the estate so I could google that but it hasn't.

I've tried googling "concrete" and "non-standard construction" with the names of local streets and the area but not found anything historical.

If you have any tips as to where to look I'd love to hear them!

Interesting to hear about the mixed builds of estates then, and a glimmer of hope!

@IndiaMay

We are in an ex council flat made of concrete. Had no trouble getting a mortgage on it 4 years ago but with banks being more cautious currently they are near impossible to mortgage without huge interest rates and I'm afraid we have had to see very cheap to a cash buyer

Do you mind me asking what kind of percentage you had to give to get a cash buyer? And did it take a long time? Thanks x

@needanewidea we put it on at a reduced price knowing that people wouldnt be able to mortgage it and still had to accept an offer 6% under what it was on for. We didnt struggle to sell at all though. We had a lot of viewings and multiple people offer. However it's a big, spacious flat in a highly desirable location so the rental value on it is really high. It's a very low priced flat for the south east, let alone one with the amount of space this has. All the offers from cash buyers were people who could snap up an absolute bargain and rent it out for a huge return because the construction doesnt effect its rental potential.

There are 2 flats in our building up for what they clearly think they should be worth based on similar sized flats in the same area but one has been for sale for a year and one 6 months and still no sale. Both cash buyers only.