Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Mortgage refused due to house having spray foam insulation in roof

91 replies

CurlyNo2 · 23/08/2022 21:19

We are first time buyers and found our dream house. Our mortgage application was sent to the underwriters who came back and declined our application due to spray foam insulation in the roof. We don’t have any further details only that it is not covered in their policy.

Does anybody have any experience of this?

Thanks

OP posts:
RubertRoo · 23/08/2022 21:22

Somebody I knew tried to buy a house with this. They really wanted the house so they paid the owner to have it all removed so they could get a mortgage on it. It was very costly though so it depends how much you want the house

Shadowboy · 23/08/2022 21:23

Depending on the roof size it will cost between £5000-£12,000 to fix. It will also depend on how many tiles you can save and how much rot the spray foam has caused in the timbers.

Sweetmint · 23/08/2022 21:53

This is a really common issue! But there are lenders out there who will mortgage properties with spray foam. I know as I have recently bought one with a mortgage. A quick Google gives this list (this is from an insulation companies website so might not be 100% accurate)

“Please see the list of following lenders who have confirmed lending against properties with spray foam insulation installed: AVIVA, Halifax, Santander, Nationwide, Atom Bank, Barclays, NatWest, Bank of Ireland, Accord Mortgages, Kensington, Aldermore, Virgin Money and Newcastle Building Society.”

My lender is on the above list. I’m putting money aside to get it removed before my next remortgage date though, as it’s presence does significantly limit your access to mortgage products.

In your shoes, I’d speak to the vendor first. They may be unaware of the problem it poses for buyers with a mortgage.

hannahcolobus · 23/08/2022 23:00

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

Original poster
CurlyNo2 · 24/08/2022 07:07

Thanks everyone for your input.

if it was you, would you consider another lender or would you pull out of the purchase?

I’m worried we are just inheriting someone else’s problem. It’s a brand new roof which we thought would save us a lot of money. If we wanted to sell at any point, we’d have to have the whole roof redone as we know this could cause issues with a buyer/mortgage.

Would this also affect us if we ever wanted to remortgage?

Argh, I’m so confused!

OP posts:
savvy7 · 24/08/2022 07:11

You've answered your own question really. You should walk away.

Original poster
CurlyNo2 · 24/08/2022 07:33

savvy7 · 24/08/2022 07:11

You've answered your own question really. You should walk away.

I thought so! 😭

OP posts:
BuenoSucia · 24/08/2022 07:37

@hannahcolobus im intrigued (and ignorant!) - I have a friend who makes his wage spraying this stuff everywhere he goes. What’s wrong with it?

Sweetmint · 24/08/2022 07:43

I wouldn’t say it’s as simple as walking away, especially if it’s been done recently and it’s a brand new roof too. Sounds like you could have it removed with minimal damage as it won’t have had enough time to cause any? It’s worth knowing there are different types of spray application too, ours has been done in a “less damaging” way according to our surveyor so we were happy to leave it a few years whilst we save for removal. Annoyingly, it’s a very effective form of insulation…

Definitely speak to the vendor and see if they’ll either a) pay to remove it themselves to keep current sale price or b) renegotiate price and allow you time to reapply with a different lender.

They will keep encountering this problem so it’s worth a conversation if you love this house and making sure the seller understands the ongoing issue. Even a cash buyer getting a survey will be told by their surveyor that it’s not a good long term solution and will need £££ to make good.

Lougle · 24/08/2022 07:46

My parents have just been exploring lifetime mortgage and both valuers needed to see the loft space because spray insulation would be an automatic no for the lenders.

PigletJohn · 24/08/2022 08:21

Even if it has not yet caused the battens to rot, there is a lot of detailed manual effort and time to remove it, which is why removal is expensive. After it is removed the house will need an entire new roof.

The time and effort means that many roofers will not take on the job.

I am appalled that there are contractors willing to take money from householders, to damage and devalue their homes.

RachCBas84 · 24/08/2022 08:42

We had this last August. Got the news 3 days before we were due to exchange. The lender conducted their own survey, found the foam and refused to lend. The foam causes rot in the timbers as it is not breathable. It should never be used in roofs. We tried to find another lender, which was unsuccessful. We were also told that remedial works would need to be completed before they would lend, so negotiating a lower purchase price with the sellers was useless. I was absolutely heartbroken at the time, but now we are in a different house, and am so relieved that we didn't go ahead with the old place. It's still on the market now. Honestly, if I were you, I'd walk away.

Hummingbird33 · 24/08/2022 09:15

I would ask the seller to have it removed and pull out of buying otherwise. They will get this problem with any other buyer too so it will be worth them doing it.

Namechangeforthis88 · 24/08/2022 11:22

To the poster asking what's wrong with it, the timbers in the roof can't "breathe", any moisture is trapped, if you have a leak you won't know as the foam will trap the moisture. So the timbers can rot without you knowing, and the nails suffer "fatigue" (don't we all). I looked into it and went for woolly stuff instead.

Original poster
CurlyNo2 · 24/08/2022 11:24

Thank you all!

We have asked estate agent to speak to vendors to see if they are willing to replace the roof asap, if not we will be pulling out. They will be in this situation with other buyers so they need to do something.

Heartbreaking but we know it’s the right decision. Let’s see what they say.

OP posts:
meow1989 · 24/08/2022 11:30

We bought our house last year with foam insulation - through one of the lenders mentioned up thread. I spoke to the surveyor prior to exchange to see how much of an issue he thought it was and we were reassured enough to carry on with the purchase.

StrawberryMarble · 24/08/2022 16:45

@PigletJohn can you explain why it needs 'an entire new roof' as the OP says it's already brand new? Surely the foam would have to be in place for years for rot to happen?

Paranoidandroidmarvin · 24/08/2022 19:46

I didn’t know anything about this!!!!

PigletJohn · 26/08/2022 08:08

It doesn't make sense to squirt foam at a new roof. Modern roofs are fitted with a permeable membrane allowing them to breathe, and preventing rain getting into the loft in storms.

Foam is squirted onto old roofs to glue loose old tiles together. It grips so tightly that by the time it has been scraped off, all the laths will be broken and the old tiles will be in a pile of rubble.

moredogsthansense · 26/08/2022 16:44

My DD and her partner are FTB who faced exactly this in March with Nationwide, who refused to lend on their house purchase for this reason. The vendor had the foam removed, presumably because she knew other buyers would probably face the same issue. The surveyor was quite happy with the state of the roof after the removal (70s terraced house, foam applied within the last 10 years), and Nationwide were then willing to lend on it. They completed a couple of weeks ago, and we’ve now had a look at the loft space. Almost no damage, just a couple of tiny tears in the roofing felt under the tiles, and the timbers are fine. Not much roof insulation now, but that’s a separate problem.

if it works out for you as it did for DD, it’ll be fine in the end, but it delayed the purchase by about a month (no chain) and was very stressful at the time!

moredogsthansense · 26/08/2022 16:48

PS - despite Nationwide being in @Sweetmint ’s list above of companies that will lend against houses with spray foam, they didn’t here. It was a flat 100% no. We got the impression that mortgage firms are generally tightening up on this recently 😕

Original poster
CurlyNo2 · 27/08/2022 09:45

Thank you.

Can I ask how long it took for the seller to remove the foam from when you asked to it all being removed?

OP posts:
SazzyLondon · 27/08/2022 11:06

We had the same issue back in April! Our lender was Halifax and their surveyor marked the value at '0' they advised that the seller should remove the spray foam and have a surveyor check the damage. We asked the sellers who were going through a separation, hence the sale, if they could do that but the EA said they wouldn't so we had to withdraw. It's around 3/5k to remove it!

Itsallyellow22 · 27/08/2022 11:13

We had this in our house when we bought (mortgage with one of lenders above) but we were planning a new roof/extension anyway so weren't bothered. When the builders tore the roof down a lot of it was rotten, as pp have said the roof can't breathe, and the foam sort of welds to the tiles/wooded battens so I can see why it would be hard to remove.

moredogsthansense · 27/08/2022 12:11

I think it was about five or six weeks - they had to get several quotes and then obviously get the work carried out, and then the mortgage company had to reopen the application, which they’d mothballed while all this was going on. I think they might have even had to open a fresh application, which wasn’t all bad as DSIL had a higher salary by then so they got better terms! Bottom line - it was a lot of hassle but ok in the end.

Swipe left for the next trending thread