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!

I'm no expert at all but I have been looking round houses for years trying to find the right one to buy... the only ones I have ever seen as unmorgagable (and they always seem to have to explain that to buyers) are the post war pre-fabs.

It is going through parliament as we speak

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3036

Very bizarre!
I have no issues getting a mortgage our house was build in 1860! It certainly doesn't have cavity walls!

Which lender was it? Also agree with going to see a broker we are with HSBC and have never had any issues with them telling us this. They did also do the survey in person!

Which, self-evidently, means it's not settled law @TheNoonBell 🙄

The ones mortgage companies really hate are Reema houses, built of concrete panels - we have a lot of them round here, put up quickly after ww2 by the LA then sold off in the 90's.

Interestingly, having worked on dozens of them, apart from some shortcomings i've never seen anything major in terms of defects, but they are basically unsellable, a 4 bed house here is £500K all day long, but a 4 bed Reema here can be had for less than £100K, has larger rooms (as ex LA stock has) and will outlive the buyer.

I live in a single skin house converted to 2 flats. The Freeholder has given notice that we need to pay ££££ for remedial works as they rent out the other flat and the current EPC is too low.

@Troyton thanks so much for the info. It’s a semi detached.(mine and my neighbours house mirror each other) Will that make a difference to it being detached?

the way I understand it is that the original cottage was built in 1890 ish -and then someone doubled the size (at least) with an extension on the back, in 1990. I believe the original property was always double height.

my husband was here when the surveyor came. He said that he looked around the interior and exterior but did nothing more than that, as far as he’s aware. He wouldn’t have been able to see the breeze blocks!

if it does come back that it’s single skin, in your opinion, is there anything we can do it make it more saleable?

since writing my initial post I’ve been informed of a list of lenders who will consider lending to single skin constructions, so at least that’s something!

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn it’s defo thicker than 1 brick. At least 50% of the house was built in 1990 so has cavity walls. The original walls are the same thickness- I know because I measured them the other day!
the only thing we do have is which I think is single brick, is a porch, on the front of the house.

We viewed but didn’t buy a single skin house and were told that the owner of it had a mortgage with HSBC so could be worth checking with them. As PP have said, single skin is a specific thing which isn’t the same as non-cavity walls - the house we did buy has solid walls with no cavity, but it’s not single skin.

Why not get a 10k personal loan, its just a phone call to your bank, money is sent immediately to your account.

We came across this when house hunting recently. You can mortgage them but only with a specialist lender. Your best bet for any future sales is to get the single skin bit sorted. Just a case of battening it out and insulating it. You lose a bit of room internally but it's a fix and sorts the mortgage problem. But don't do it yourself (like the bloke who's house we discovered this in) because you'll need a certificate to show the work has been done properly

@Tessabelle74 really? I thought it was to do with the actual thickness of the structure itself? I’m so confused!

@JanesBlond do you know how you’d know the difference please?

Goodness my house is single skin brick and granite, and prone to damp and I've had three mortgages on it. This has never been mentioned 😱

I'd better sell before 2035 by the looks of it. Surely a huge percentage of housing stock in the UK will therefore become unmortgageable?

Ah solid walls with no cavity isn't the same?

No, it's classed as "non standard construction" which makes mortgage lenders twitchy. Here's a good article for you
https://www.needingadvice.co.uk/single-skin-wall-property-mortgage/#:~:text=It%20is%20difficult%20because%20there,finance%20in%20case%20of%20repossession.

I am assuming that mortgages are available and this won't happen in 2035 as in my city vast swathes of housing is pre 1910. How will it be possible for anyone to buy or sell?

Well all the houses around here are pre cavity walls and selling like hot cakes.
Never heard of mortgages been denied for the reason stated. I would shop around.

Weird, ours is part single skin (built 1902 I think), Barclays gave us a mortgage last year no problem.

The bill is at early stages. It actually says that the C requirement only applies where is it is practical, affordable and cost effective and where improvements costs no more than 20k. Also for mortgage lenders the requirement is to have “an average” of C rating across their portfolio, thus they could balance out E and D properties with A rated properties.

Thanks for the info 😊

This is never going to happen, don't worry about it

So basically many older houses will be unsellable except to cash buyers?

Can you imagine what will that do to the property market?

There are tons of Victorian and before houses up and down the country.

Your house is mortgageable but only with a limited number if mortgage lenders . I used to work in house conveyancing over 12 years ago and it’s always been the case .
Because the structure is not as good insurances can be a bit funny too so that doesn’t help with the lenders process .