Our house is unmortgageable. I want to cry!

[Holls81]

Just wondering if anyone else has had this, especially recently.

In the past we’ve owned 2 properties built in the late 1800 and never had a problem getting a mortgage for either.

our current home was built in 1890.

we had no problem getting a mortgage on this either- in fact we just fixed again with the mortgage lender we’ve had for the last 5 years.
we recently applied for £10k on our mortgage to do some home improvements (re rendering etc which should add value) but it was declined. Not on the grounds that we couldn’t afford it, but on the grounds that the surveyor deemed our property as unmortgageable due to the original part of the house being single skin.

I had no idea that this would be an issue I spoke to the lender and they said it’s a blanket rule across all properties which are single skin (ie. Pre cavity wall - 1930’s builds.)

im now worried that we’ll never be able to sell our house as no one will ever be able
to get a mortgage on it, plus we’re paying a lot of money each month for a house that may never be worth anything now.

I feel sick!

We are expecting that if we live until 2035 and don't need care that DS will just put our 1930s house up for auction because of the EPC. We only paid £60k for it though and its paid off, its worrying for those that paid a lot for their homes though.

What? Where did you find this out?

It's really not as big a problem as you might fear. Lenders all work to slightly different policies, and they also change their own policies at times. As mentioned up thread, they must look at their overall portfolio and may stop lending on a type of property for a while.

I just sold a flat that about 3 years ago one well know high street lender wouldn't give me a mortgage for as they weren't lending on flats in ex council buildings with 6 floors or higher. (I had zero problems getting a mortgage from another lender though.)

The person who bought it from me has a mortgage with that lender who 3 years ago rejected me, and for a higher loan-to-value ratio than I needed.

My broker said that there are some property types lenders aren't as keen on, so occasionally they will not lend on them, but that's not every single lender at the same time.

Most of Tunbridge Wells would be unmortgageable if this was the case! Don't worry about it being worthless, it isn't. Presumably as you've just fixed you can't change lenders without a hefty fee though which is annoying. They must have changed their policy recently if you already have a mortgage with them? Presumably a survey was done then?

We are in a single skin 1890s Victorian terrace and recently (December 2022) remortgaged to release £20k equity for house improvements (ones which will hopefully improve the EPC) and had absolutely no issues with our lenders

Single skin and no cavity in all's are two separate things. Early 20th century houses were double width walls but no gap(they alternated forward and side) they are mortgageable because I've just sold one to a lady with a £390k mortgage!

I'm a builder, you need to clarify what construction your house is by having a surveyor or builder check it out. Single skin is a non standard method of construction that was used by cheapskate victorian builders to knock up cheap properties, it is not as common as people think.

A single skin property is just that, it has just one layer of bricks, not two, often they are laid the wrong way up to save cement (weakening the structure and promoting damp) or even side ways on, which is worse structurally.

If there are two layers of bricks, tided together with purpendicular bricks (you can see this from outside as you see the short side of the brick in he pattern as well as the long side) then it is solid wall construction, the same as, and just as strong as a cavity wall, but without the gap for insulation. This is the method good victorian brickies used and how most victorian houses are built with single skin brick walls inside if they didn't use lathe and plaster studwork.

You beat me to it!!

Thank you to @johnd2 for explaining the difference between single skin and solid wall.

Single skin is built with one layer of brick, like used on a low garden wall. It doesn't refer to a house wall that doesn't have cavity insulation (the OP described it wrongly).

Solid wall is what Victorian etc houses are built of. A single, solid walk built two layers of brick deep. Some garden walls are also built in the same way.

OP needs to find out if any of their walls are in fact single skin, or whether the surveyor used the wrong term.

It was in the papers last year when it was announced.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-10523887/Will-15million-homes-need-energy-efficiency-improvements-2035-order-meet-EPC-C-rating.html

I am in the process of buying a house at the moment. Two up two down terraced house with a single skin. Nationwide giving mortgage.

we had offer accepted on a house and we couldn't get a mortgage on it either - it was just a normal terrace conversion flat - the lender deemed it valued at 0 - it was so weird and we were given very little info - our broker did say lets try another lender - but it kind of freaked us out so we let the house go!

The weird part was that the current owners had their mortgage with the same company we were going to use

they sold the house a few months later to someone else

So im not sure how it all works - but I would try another lender

It's only proposed, not passed and there will be exemptions. Can't actually see how they could ever enforce this.

@UncleRadley i queried this. They reckon it would have been a ‘drive by’ type survey done initially and said it was because it was during Covid 🙄
I argued it wasn’t because they took it on in 2018 🤬

This is only a proposal not settled law! Stop scaremongering, for goodness sake...

Actually then the one I'm buying doesn't have cavity wall insulation because an EPC D. Might not be single skin then.

The epc thing will not happen. It's impossible and we already don't have enough homes. They're not going to demolish them all!

Terraces are a different matter structurally, the smaller ones sometimes do have a single skin front and back wall that effectively bears no load, the dividing walls and end wall will be at least 2 brick thick, much more so where the chimney breasts stand with the joists set between these and the roof sat across them.
The main issue with these is the potential for a bit of damp ingress front and back, which is easily remedied and often has been by now.

Imagine the decimation of period homes if it did come in @cocksstrideintheevening - half the royal residences would be knocked down! 😆

Jings, 20 years in the building trade and I know most surveyors know diddly squat anyway, even when they look round they make mistakes - no one can survey a property or guess on the construction from the road!!

I have a unsellable house. Bought in 2018 and they've changed the rules since then on non standard construction properties. Mine had that repairs through a reputable company but the adjoining house hasn't. We got a mortgage but have tried to sell since and despite interested buyers, no one has managed to get a mortgage on it. Someone would have to really really want it or we would have to massively reduce the price. So staying put. It's a huge concern to know that when we come to sell it will be an issue. Managed to remortgage with no problems but that is because of our LTV and knowing that Halifax are willing to take these special cases on.

Ridiculous! Some cities like London are chock full of Victorian properties. As a PP said, could soon be time to buy myself a vastly reduced Victorian detached in Hampstead (in my dreams!)

Hate the scaremongering that you see on Mumsnet on a daily basis 🙄

@Troyton im so confused. The back part of the house (50% of total house ) was built in 1990 so has cavity walls. The original walls are no thinner than the extended walls but it’s rendered so I can’t see brick work.
however, when we’ve had damp proof work done in the past, the bricks that were exposed on the inside looked ‘normal!’
There was though, one patch of wall that the damp proofer took the plaster off of and said it looked like there was a part of it that was breeze block but he wasn’t sure if at some point it would have been a door that had been filled in 🤷‍♀️
im sure what to think to be honest! Our immediate neighbour (as in we share a wall-semi detached) has recently done equity release from hers so I’m so stumped!

Single skin means one brick thick, do you mean it's a solid wall construction of 9"brick (or thicker)? I could understand the first one being looked at warily by lenders but not proper solid wall construction.

Is it a detatched or a semi? if so it simply wouldn't stand up with just one skin of bricks!!

It sounds like it is a solid wall house with a cavity extension, it may be there were some single skin walls that have had an extra layer added, hence the breeze block, maybe when the extension works were done.

You need to hire either a decent RICS surveyor, not one who just does mortgages a proper structural one or a structural engineer to look, make test holes if needed (I would use a long 10mm drill bit to see how thick the walls are , what material, and if they are hollow) and write a conclusive report.