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 sit here in my 1920s-ish house that is single skin (didn't even know that term until today but I have googled it and realised that my house is indeed that!).

I got my mortgage two years ago with Virgin and it wasn't mentioned 🤷‍♀️ so I'm sure there will be lenders that don't mind OP!

Building surveyor here and this isn’t right but not wrong either - you just need clarification. There are single skin properties all over the country that are mortgaged, and yours is fixed so it IS mortgageable, they just don’t want to release equity.

If the house has had an extension and the extension is single skin and contains the kitchen, this is often frowned upon.

Could you look at a bank loan for the work instead?

As you mentioned rendering, I’d be very careful rendering a single skin property as it needs to ‘breathe’. Cement based render is a problem, ideal render should be removed and there deter with lime. You’ll need to find a specialist. Lime should also be used as mortar and lime based plaster internally too. If you house could go without render at all that would be preferable, or consider an external insulation that leaves a gap and is then rendered (a really good option for future proofing).

Use a broker, I think you've been misinformed. We very recently remortgaged our Edwardian, non cavity wall home on better terms than our previous lender offered.

But does this mean that you still need to spend 20k doing what you can. I got the impression it did?

I sit here in my 1920s-ish house that is single skin (didn't even know that term until today but I have googled it and realised that my house is indeed that!).

It will be a single thick skin, around nine inches thick. There are probably millions of mortgaged houses with the same construction.

I suspect the OP’s problem may be single leaf walls. They are only the width of a brick or block thick, so around half that. OK for a garage or outbuilding but not suitable for habited rooms.

@Oakbeam ill measure the wall thickness when I’m home! It’s defo not the width of one brick

@Holls81 did you get a proper survey done for yourselves (not just the mortgage valuation) when you bought it? The surveyor should have mentioned it then if it is single skin. Did the surveyor who came out to assess for the loan just do a drive by or take a proper look?

@Holls81 On reflection, it does seem unlikely that the original part of the house would have been built that way. Most of the examples I have seen have been shoddily built extensions.

Somebody mentioned pre-fabs but the house is too early for that. The problem I have seen with those involvescthe way the pre-fab sections are joined using steel fixings that corrode over time. They had a design life of ten years.

A good question, the bill proposal reads quite open at this stage - from what I see it allows for the following scenario: Lender A may ask you to spend up to 20k on improvements if they are overexposed to the properties ranking below C. But you can go to Lender B who might have a stronger portfolio and does not care. Or, if the works are simply not feasible (i.e. a listed property, way too expensive) you go to the Lender B. I can imagine the following scenario in London: a bank issues loads of mortgages for newbuilt flats, which makes it possible for the bank to give out a number of mortgages for victorian properties. So nothing really changes… apart perhaps for those few properties that would actually benefit from the improvements at under 20k cost ( which actually is good for them anyway). I would not panic.

@JanesBlond we always knew it was non cavity. The guy on the phone who told us that we’’d been declined told us that single skin and non cavity are the same thing!

If there is a £20k limit, is it better to wait until you are asked to upgrade before spending any money?

Otherwise, you could spend a load of money upgrading but if you still don’t qualify for a C rating you could then be expected to spend another £20k when you want to remortgage.

A potential catch 22? You need £20,000 to remedy a problem otherwise the bank won't lend, but you need to borrow in order to have the money to carry out the work.

FWIW as a landlord the larger problem may be with rental property, which are often Victorian terraced houses, as where they will need to meet a certain energy rating before they can be let. As a landlord I am almost avoiding reading about the issue as I don't really know how I can upgrade my properties. With the shortage of reliable builders in London even throwing money at the problem may not be the solution, whilst in other areas property values and rents are so low that landlords will not be able to borrow to pay for the works. Instead I am hoping that no one will be as stupid as to bar a huge number of rental properties from the market in one go. (They can't do it can they?)

He was wrong. Get your own surveyor out and send them the report.

I'm parking myself here as I will be selling my non cavity house in the near future. It's quite scary if a surveyor can't tell what a single skin actually is

Haven't read whole thread but pretty sure that the front upper of the first house I bought - 1930s - in london in late 90s was single skin.
I seem to remember asking a surveyor about this and he said something like "in THEORY it could collapse" but it wasn't presented as a no no.
I got a mortgage OK and I sold it - don't know if buyer was using a mortgage.
one thing for sure many of the houses in its street and neighbouring streets must have been near identical and stuff sold. easily.

point - haven't examined any difference between "single skin" "non cavity" - not technical - I do know that it wasn't conventional double layer as is common now.

Yikes, if we have to get up to band C by 2035 it'll cost a bomb! We live in a single-skin house, and it'll cost about £15k to get external cladding put on (assuming we get planning permission, we live in a National Park so it's not straightforward).

Something like 21% of the entire U.K. housing stock was built before 1930 and a further 20% built up to 1945 so I think your broker is talking bollocks

So my house is non cavity but is two bricks thick. Is single skin only one brick thick? Can you tell st the doorframe how many bricks thick it is

https://www.onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk/property-types/single-brick-construction-mortgage/

here. Single skin is different to non cavity. Most non cavities will not be single skin.

I was just coming on to say exactly the same that you might not get a mortgage if they don’t meet the EPC, it’s the same with rented properties, un rentable if the property does not meet the criteria.

We've just remortgaged on our 1820 house with no issues. That policy is insane and extreme.

@TheNoonBell lots of old properties are EPC exempt though.

OP, your lenders sound like idiots!

It's only £10K, get a 5 year loan and don't worry. I've got no doubt your house is mortgageable, if your current lenders don't want to remortgage you then no doubt some other lender will.

get a mortgage broker, they will find you a suitable lender who covers such construction.