Designated Defective housing - advice?

[mullingitallover]

Our survey on a potential purchase house has flagged that it's classed Designative defective /non-standard construction - it's a Unity Precast Concrete property.

I've flagged to our solicitor and I think we will have to notify our lender of this. I'm worried about our mortgage offer and reselling the house

Does anyone have any advice/experience/concerns/reassurance/other?

I should add, there was a previous buyer who fell through and according to the agent "had a problem with their mortgage". I didn't press on this in case it was personal, but now feel I def should have. Worried.

Bumping my post in case anyone has experience of buying a house where survey showed up 'designated defective' housing.

Does it sounds worse than it is, or is it a reselling red flag? Thanks!

I gather many mortgage companies will refuse to lend against them.

Has any repair been made to any of the concrete or steel?

I have experience of Unity houses. Firstly, the agent should have told you it was of non traditional construction, especially seeing as a previous sale fell through because of it and IMO, they should have told you before you even viewed it.
My mortgage experience is a little outdated, but I would think many lenders would not lend on a Unity. Some (very few) might, and it may also depend on the LTV. Hopefully this will bump for you and someone with more recent mortgage experience can advise a bit better.

Unless the house had had remedial work, ie, bricking it up to make it of an acceptable construction type for lenders, I would say it is a huge risk for resale. You'd be talking mainly cash buyers only. Again if someone with more recent mortgage experience knows better I'd be happily corrected.

I would contact your mortgage lender ASAP, then you know where you stand. Was the survey instructed by you independently or the lender? If the lender has has their valuation survey done already they will already be aware. Sorry for all the bitty replies!

Did the listing describe it as non-standard construction?

You need to ask what, if any, remedial works have been carried out.

They can be bargains if you can get a mortgage and afford the work to bring it to a decent standard.

I would walk away. Even if your mortgage provider accepts it you'll have a nightmare selling it. Insurance will also be expensive.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate this.

The listing didn't describe it as non-standard construction, no.

The house has had remedial work as follows (from the survey, would this suffice in terms of re-sale?:

"The house is originally a Unity Precast Concrete property. The original walls are of stack bonded Precast
Concrete panels. The walls were upgraded with insulation and outer skin brickwork approximately 20 years
ago. The property has been extensively altered with side and rear two-story extensions that are of cavity
brickwork construction."

Has it been sold in the last 20 years? If so the brickwork might have made it mortgageable.

@MadeForThis Current owners bought it in 2008 and apparently with a mortgage

Would it be a just cause to negotiate down the price? It's not a cheap house - nearing £600K

So it's had the remedial work done necessary. For the house to be mortgagable the work should have been accompanied by a PRC certificate. The PRC certificate certifies that the remediation work was successful. Either your solicitors should have or can obtain this, the estate agent may be able to help or tell you if one exists. Without the PRC cert I don't think it's mortgageable. Google PRC certificate, you'll get loads of results you can read to understand.
Still may mean you have a limited number of lenders who will lend on the property.

Did your survey include a valuation? If not, and you are still considering proceeding it might be worth asking the surveyor to give a valuation of the property, they will take the Unity construction and PRC works into consideration.

thanks @TwoPlugs we're still definitely considering proceeding and have asked surveyor for a valuation.

We broke our chain to keep our sale, and we're now in temporary rented accommodation - so things are precarious for us. Still don't want to make a duff purchase choice though, obviously.

Good luck with it. For what it's worth, I think I would buy a bricked up Unity house, for the right money, if it was going to be a family home for many years. The ones I have been in are spacious and feel solid. You just need to make sure all the right boxes are ticked and your solicitors are the ones to advise. Let us know how you get on.

Definitely get a valuation. My street is half normal, half non standard. The houses are all the same size and layout but the non standard sell for less than half the amount of the normal ones.

thanks @MarianneVos. I wonder if any of the non-standard ones on your street have had the necessary remedial work done - and are still selling for half the amount. Flipping heck.

I'm not sure, I assume not as it wouldn't be such a big price differential. One has just been knocked down and completely rebuilt from scratch though! I assume that will be worth more than the normal ones when it's finished because of being brand new.

Thanks @MarianneVos

If anyone on here has experience of buying a Unity house with remedial repairs done please lmk.

crunch decision time is coming and because the house feels so solid and spacious and well extended and surveyor saw no major probs, we're likely to proceed.

Not a Unity, but we bought a different NSC house last year with remedial works completed in the 80s.

Like you, it got flagged by the surveyor, not the mortgage provider. The seller provided us with the PRC certificates, and everything went smoothly from there. Most of the house was modernised internally, as it was a student house a couple of owners ago.

On my estate, though, all of the houses are one of two types of NSC, and our type is desirable as being a slightly better layout. Houses don't go up for sale very often here, but don't tend to stay on the market long. We anticipate being here for a long time, but if we decide to sell I don't anticipate any problems.

@TiniestFluffiestBunny thanks, it doesn't sound like it's been s as problem for you. We're have the PRC certification now.

I felt annoyed the agent didn't flag it. She told me they and the seller believed as it had been worked on and extended, that it wasn't a Unity build any more. But I can see from the PRC certificate that you're meant to hand it to the next buyer.

Maybe I'm having a cynical week - but if I hadn't had the survey and asked about it, would they have even given us that certificate? Buyers need to know the facts of the house , not the opinions of the seller and agent.

Bumping for traffic/attention tonight.

Hoping for advice/experience from anyone who has bought - or recently tried to sell - a Unity house that's had the necessary remedial work and been heavily extended.

Thanks

Doing a final bump on this one as we need to decide whether to sign on the line very soon...

anyone have experience of buying/selling a non standard construction with the right PRC certified remedial work done? Positive or negative?

Thanks!

You might do better to post on a community Facebook page for the area you're looking to buy - it's a very regional issue.