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!

That's not right. We've just taken out an additional borrowing on ours which is 1810.

Yes I wouldn't worry about it now, unless you are selling in the very near future, which it doesn't sound like you are as you are borrowing for work, the only odd thing seems to be that one wall so sometime in the future I would probably investigate that but the rest sounds normal. I would probably get a home improvement loan for the £10k as that would probably be easiest.

The people I mentioned who found they had an actual single brick wall (just the one wall fortunately) got so fed up of inspectors for insurers/surveyors coming and saying it must be double without a cavity that they took one brick out of the wall, and removed it every time a surveyor/insurnace adjuster visited, to prove the point....

1930s and single skin? Ours is 1920s and has cavity walls with wall ties, like modern houses. Before cavity walls it was normal to have two layers of brick built side by side with no gaps, and some bricks spanning across- that's not 'single brick' though.
You can often tell what's going on by looking at the brick pattern.
https://dailycivil.com/brick-bonds-types/

Stretcher bond is normal for houses with cavity walls, but is an outer skin with a similar inner skin, sometimes made with blockwork these days rather than brick, joined across at intervals with 'wall ties' so the two walls support each other. AFAIK it's stretcher bond with no parallel inner wall that is the problem one referred to as 'single brick'. Perhaps a surveyor here could clarify that?

Nonsense.

The rules state that an EPC C, is required "where practical, affordable and cost effective".

It DOES NOT mean every house will have to have one, just those that can easily be improved. It's just rented accommodation that must comply. So rents will get even more expensive and harder to find, I swear, this Government is fucking stupid. I'd rather live in a drafty rented house than be homeless.

Nobody is going to be installing cladding on victorian terraces or 18th century farmhouses.

This is rubbish, millions of houses are single skin, it doesn't make them unmortgageable.

Thanks for that explanation @johnd2 We've just exchanged with our standard type Victorian Semi and our buyer had no issues with the mortgage. The term "single skin" came up in conversation with my EA, who was saying that it was a good thing my house wasn't like that. I did initially think of pointing out that it was, then realised that the due to the way the bricks are laid it's thicker than a single brick and wondered if that was the issue. You've just confirmed that it's "solid wall" not "single skin". 🙂
We've also done lots of internal insulation so it's EPC is a B. We've never had damp problems either 🙏

Just thinking about some of the stuff brought up on this thread, reminds me of the extension my parents had done in Australia nearly 30 years ago.

Original house single storey double brick with cavity (1930s build), the thermal mass really helped, I recall how you'd feel coolness at the front door coming home from school in summer. 2nd storey extension was built as timber frame, single brick cladding as the foundations weren't deemed strong enough for double brick. Upstairs definitely markedly warmed in summer than downstairs! But no structural issues.

A lot of this does seem to be a confusion because a solid wall which is 2 bricks thick with no cavity is often called single skin which is confused with the single brick wall which is also called single skin.

We were told ours was too, but we managed to getting a mortgage with another lender very easily.

The majority of houses where I live are Victorian terraces they can't have cavity wall insulation. They sell more quickly than the 1930s semis. There can't be a blanket ban like that Is it just your particular mortgage provider.?

I've actually done a couple of defects surveys where a mortgage has been declined due to single skin walls - and have identified that the walls are in fact of solid construction, not single skin.

I've never actually found any homes of single skin construction, but do sometimes find single skin former outhouses that have been incorporated into the main building e.g. to extend the kitchen. This doesn't make the property unmortgageable

@MsMcG from what I can gather, the original front and back walls are solid brick (they are 12 inches thick almost)
the original downstairs walls are 11 inches thick but I think that the outer wall must have been single brick and at some point in the house’s 130 year life, someone has added a layer of block to the inside, downstairs. Upstairs though, along one wall of the original house, I believe that it’s too thin to be anything other than single brick. Not sure what to do!

@MsMcG that should read the original downstairs side wall

Upstairs though, along one wall of the original house, I believe that it’s too thin to be anything other than single brick. Not sure what to do!

If it’s a single leaf, you could add a timber framed lining with insulation and a vapour barrier. That way it would be little different to a modern timber framed home. You would lose a bit of internal room space though.

We have incorporated our former outhouse/rear hall into the main building for the utility room and downstairs toilet, it's single skin but passed building control in the 1990s. It's a 1930s house and others up our road have done the same, Our previous victorian terrace was the same with the downstairs bathroom.

that should read the original downstairs side wall

Is it double storey or supporting anything above?

Victorian houses can have cavity walls, ours is from the 1840s and does (we found this out when neighbours had some works done).

Remortgaged with Halifax last week, 1800s single skin. No problems.

@Oakbeam
yes it’s 2 storey. Upstairs seems to be single brick though (only realised this yesterday)
can’t understand why they would have added an extra layer downstairs but not upstairs and how, as far as I know, the fact that it’s probably always been single brick up on the upstairs, that it’s never been seen as an issue before 🤷‍♀️😫

@Oakbeam i believe it’s panelled in some form as it sounds like an internal wall. Just wondering how we could strengthen it up. Not sure if it’s even legal the way it is!

We've just bought an Edwardian property, single skin. No issues with the mortgage.

Different mortgage lenders have different criteria for lending, but it's not uncommon for things like this to crop up in older houses, so don't panic. If you were re-mortgaging I'd say speak to a broker, as they would know who best to use.

I did a similar survey where the lender wanted confirmation that the single brick element was structurally sound. You might have to get a report from a structural engineer or structural surveyor (not a real estate surveyor) to this effect

@MsMcG thanks so so much. so just to clarify, you have come across single brick in an actual house before, then? Not just single skin (as in, non cavity wall/ solid wall ?)
I was starting to think that ours was the only house!

Single skin does not refer to solid wall properties. Solid wall properties are two skins/leaves of brick against each other with no cavity, tied in with header bricks i.e. bricks turned in so that you only see the heads on the outside face of the wall. Often referred to as one brick thickness because it's the thickness of the length of a brick.

Single skin is exactly that, its one leaf of brickwork. Most often seen in garden walls or older outbuildings. It's often referred to as half brick thickness, because it's half the length of a brick. These are typically lower level, no more than single storey and supported by piers.

I've never seen an entire home of single skin construction. I have seen hundreds of solid wall properties, as these are most (not all) properties built before 1920 ish. I have seen homes which have small sections of single skin construction, typically when outbuildings have been incorporated, or where alterations have been made prior to building regs (or just done on the cheap).

Hope that helps :)