Neighbour maybe doesn't realise house is concrete WWYD?

[lineylines]

My neighbour has put their house on the market. It's a normal ad.

However, their house is concrete construction. Definitely - not only is ours, and the houses look the same, but theirs in a semi and the one next door (that it's atttached to - effectively the other side of the same house) sold last year, and the ad clearly said "cash buyers only as concrete construction".

The price they're asking is normal for a standard construction house round here, but they're not going to get nearly that for a conrete house. The one next door sold for £75K less than they're asking.

I'm trying to work out whether I should say something to them.

If they already know it's concrete I guess it's none of my business really. It's very unlikely a buyer won't find out as the houses on this road are flagged as "possibly concrete construction" and it will be hard to get a mortage. Unless someone buys cash, I guess?

But if they don't know, then it's going to be a nasty shock - they may find out once they've offered on a new place and then their buyer's mortgage falls through when the lender finds out it's concrete.

Lots of people here don't realise about the concrete I think as this is an ex council estate and some of the houses were bought ages ago and passed down families.

I don't know them well, they keep themselves to themselves.

Should I say something to be neighbourly? Or stay out of it? WWYD?

I'd go round innocently and enquire what the valuer said about non standard houses 'so I know in case I decide to sell'.

You're not calling them idiots, you're not saying you know better, you're just enquiring their take on it. And you might find out something useful and maybe make friends.

Are you totally sure? My house is 1920s and so difficult to drill into the walls as the bricks are engineering bricks and very hard.

I do love a bit of detail from experts and I'm finding this thread fascinating.
Thank you @ICouldHaveCheckedFirst@HoppyFish for your technical input.
(I'm afraid I could have is tagged in error)
I'm crossing my fingers that maybe the OPs house isn't concrete.
Is there a simple definitive test I wonder.

You can drill into concrete.

Can't probably do it with a "1000 drills bits for £4.50" set though. There are drill bits and there are drill bits.

I've tried to drill holes in my house and found problems and it is absolutely standard construction. Drilling into metal studs can be hard without decent drills. Window lintels also.

First response has it!

Non of OPs business

The thing that stood out to me was the idea of doorstepping them in the street rather than more pro-actively knocking on the door. If you are genuinely concerned for the vendor then I think you should knock on the door and say so. If you are genuinely concerned for a potential buyer, you should contact the estate agent and check they are aware.

Otherwise, what will you do if you don't bump into your neighbour in the street and don't have a casual opportunity to slip it into the conversation? Would you just not say anything? The more days roll on, the more chance there is of the vendor accepting an offer and the purchase wheels being set in motion. So if you are genuinely concerned for one or all parties, the time to intervene is now. Otherwise, you may as well leave it to the process and stay out of it.

Personally, if I were friends with the neighbour I'd mention it over a cup of tea or glass of wine. If I barely knew them, I'd keep out of it. But then I live in London and it's not really the done thing to get involved in such things. Just be mindful that once she knows, she will be obliged to be truthful about it when asked questions during the sales process. That may seem the 'right' course of action, but she's unlikely to thank you for it and if she can't sell her house she could be your neighbour for some time yet!

Oh god, now I'm doubting myself!!

Thinking about how I came to the conclusion it's concrete - the identical house across the road being sold as concrete had a lot to do with it.

Plus the walls being so hard to drill. Not impossible, but we had to buy a much better drill. The guy who came to fit the internet cable was amazed at how hard the walls were. It bent his drill bit IIRC.

I would be so happy if mine wasn't concrete I can feel I'm willing myself to believe it could be possible now 😁

Houses of concrete construction are perfectly 'normal" and can fetch the same proves as those of brick construction, but you have to know 'how' they were constructed (which will be stated on the deeds).
The type of construction will determine whether a mortgage can be obtained.
My house, for example, is 'Winpy No Fines, Poured Concrete', and as such, is eligible for a mortgage, but I do know that houses built from 'slabs of concrete', are not eligible for mortgages.
In the case of the OP's neighbour, the exact construction of the property will become known when the searches and deed inspection are carried out.
I would also say to the OP that the sale of the nextdoor neighbour's house is none of anyone else's business, unless you're planning to purchase it, but if not, stay out of it, you won't be thanked for poking your nose in!

Oh @lineylines get downloading.
It's only about £3 and instant results.
https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

I doubt it's concrete. Do you have a photo of the outside wall? Is it definitely 1930s? By the way, most modern houses have cavity walls with an inner leaf of concrete block. Your inner leaf might be brick, which can be very hard. If the brickwork in the loft is the party wall in between you and your neighbour, then it certainly isn't a concrete system build.

No it wasn’t, I made over 75k by selling it though 😆
but the estate agent didn’t include the concrete info in the sale advert, even though we asked them to, but the banks were fully aware of the type of property because the buyer had to go via particular lenders who lend on them type of houses

Definitely 1930s. It's pebbledashed, you can't see what's under it.

I'm so confused now! Not sure what I know any more 😂😭

I've had a mental busy week at work this week and not had a lot of time for anything other than kids and work but when I get a chance I'm going to dig out the old survey and other stuff and go back to why I think it's concrete - if there's a chance it isn't that would be amazing.

I would make a note not to use this estate agent in the future, they are in breach of the The National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency regulations which state that important details such as this should be disclosed in advertising.

Little late on the post but interesting. Can you please share the area or street name of this house?

When we were house hunting I wish someone had to the Estate Agent a house we saw was non standard construction.

It only emerged when we got a survey done. It cost us hundreds of pounds and I was furious as it turned out the sellers knew but said nothing. It wasn't possible for anyone to get a normal mortgage on it.

The agents were livid as they didn't know and it didn't reflect well on them.

What did you do then? I’m sure you can sue the seller for misrepresentation claim.

Thanks for bumping Manners and Just interested, I have updates, but has lost this thread.

So, I've been chatting to some of the neighbours. And, I managed to track down the old survey for here - haven't seen it since before I gave birth (a long time ago!)

The amazing news is - there's a reason my house isn't on the list HoppyFeet shared - IT ISN'T CONCRETE!! I can't express how happy I am to have been so totally wrong about this. Knowing this has completely changed how I feel about my home.

I don't feel like it's a hot potato any more, and I feel more settled here and I'm now making plans to improve it rather than trying to work out how to afford to sell up.

Which begs the question - why did the house across the road sell for cash-only and state non-standard construction on the Rightmove ad? This was one of the main reasons I was so convinced my house is concrete as they're identical houses. (That and also because the walls are unusually tough and that when you do searches it comes up that some of the houses here are concrete).

This is where it gets nasty. That house was a probate sale, by the family of our old neighbour. The rumour is, that the agent deliberately led the sellers, a grieving family, to believe it was concrete so the price would go lower and so it could be snapped up by a landlord they're in cahoots with.

I have no idea if this is true - it's local gossip. But I'm inclined to believe it as I don't have any other explanation for why an estate agent would sell a house as concrete if they didn't have to (unless inexperience / incompetence?).

I'll certainly give that agent a wide berth anyway.

Finally, the house that was up for sale and which sparked this thread has now been sold and I'm pleased to say we have some new neighbours who seem really lovely.

Sorry, but no, not doxing myself here!

If you want to see where concrete houses are though, the list HoppyFeet shared is really interesting:

nonstandardhouse.com/local-authority-non-traditional-housing-stock-lists

That's exactly what I was trying to prevent by starting this thread. I'm so sorry it happened to you. What a monumental and totally unnecessary waste of your time, money and emotions

I hope you found a lovely house in the end.

I searched that link and my street is on it but only 4 houses are named as concrete. Mine isn’t listed but it definitely is! Though I’m not worried as all the houses here get snapped up! The one I bought was for sale less than 2 weeks before it went to a closing date and several people put in offers!

This thread was a rollercoaster for me. First I wondered what the worry was, then I was full of worry, then some people were very reassuring, then others made me worry again…😂

I don’t even intend to move!

OP, glad your mind has been put at ease.

My husband bought a concrete and brick house with a mortgage with no problem. Not in England though.

Oh goodness, sorry about that!!

I hope you're feeling ok about it now!

When I was looking last year, I saw a lovely house in the area I wanted. There was no indication from looking at it that it was non standard construction. It was only near the bottom of the estate agent blurb that it mentioned concrete. I still thought, no problem, surely that's stronger than wood/brick. It was only when I looked into it further I realised the issues, structural, insurance and mortgage wise.
OP, maybe the owner/agent genuinely don't know. To not mention it in the advertising is very misleading and dishonest. If it was me, I'd call the agents.

I agree with your advice, had things not moved on. Check my posts, a few back, it's not concrete!

But, the agent for the other place which was declared as concrete is rumoured to have been pulling a fast one :(