New Home Warranty

[anonfool77]

Hi everyone,

we're in the process of buying a 1-year old self-build and we're stuck as our lenders won't accept the architects certificate provided by the sellers.

Our lenders provided a list of warranties/ certificates they will accept instead (see attachment)

Anyone has any experience with any of these providers and how difficult/ costly it is to obtain such a certificate for a completed build?

We'll also consider another lender but our options are fairly limited.

Thank you

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by anonfool77
updated title

[nod]

Yes most lenders won’t accept aN Architects cert 

As self builders we have two choices Use one of the above or don’t bother An architects cert is a waste of money As is any other of the warranties 

Until you come to sell 

 

Your seller will be able to get a retrospective warrantee

I submitted a post a while back siting my friends situation Although he was the seller 

It took a couple of weeks to sort out 

If you have any trouble finding a company I will dig the post out 

[Ferdinand]

Sounds like a tricky situation - sorry to hear it.

 

Get your seller to provide something you will accept.

 

Or evaluate the quality of  the builder and the build and make a judgement call if you have an alternative.

 

Choose a few real details and drill right downn to give yourself confidence.  eg "Show me the individual cutoffs for water and electrics for  that shower" (properly built  will have ones for both for the particular shower in addition to the stop tap and fuse).

 

I am in a self-build purchased from the self builder and 6 years in I guess I have had to spend a few thousand sorting things out that were cut corners or substandard.

 

It would have been possible to to knock 2-3 % off the offer, but the poor chap was already down from his i itial £325k price from 2 years before to £250k, as it was 2013. To be fair to us, we had reduced ours by significantly more than than to shift it - 25%+. Ours was a small listed Derbyshire Hall that people loved but feared.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Ferdinand

[Carrerahill]

You know, this is an utter joke.

 

Your lender would probably give someone a mortgage for a major house builder home no questions asked, which as we know have often been found to have major structural issues and mortar with little cement in it and bits that are just down right shocking, yet because it is a self build immediately it is deemed as being risky.

 

Our extension is a quality build, a solid, well engineered thing, yet I could see me in some years potentially having to do battle with a potential buyers solicitor over warranties and what not when actually they should be more concerned about the non-BC signed off, self-certified mass produced houses built with little care or quality.

 

 

[Dreadnaught]

@anonfool77, welcome to the forum.

 

I can't offer any advice but thanks for sharing that list. I will be looking into getting one of these warranties for my forthcoming build (even while knowing that they are all quite useless). And your list is a good starting point for me. 

 

Good luck finding a solution for your problem. Personally, I would be tempted to ask the seller to arrange a retrospective warranty so that the sale can go through.

Edited February 6, 2020 by Dreadnaught

[recoveringbuilder]

That’s ridiculous! Our two previous self builds were both sold with their architects certificate even although they were out of time they were still required.

my friend recently bought a property which had a conservatory added to it some years previously and the seller couldn’t produce any pp or bc paperwork so he had to buy an insurance policy to cover any future trouble with the conservatory ( either not having pp or not built to bc standards) so I wonder if this would be an option ?

[nod]

34 minutes ago, Carrerahill said:

You know, this is an utter joke.

 

Your lender would probably give someone a mortgage for a major house builder home no questions asked, which as we know have often been found to have major structural issues and mortar with little cement in it and bits that are just down right shocking, yet because it is a self build immediately it is deemed as being risky.

 

Our extension is a quality build, a solid, well engineered thing, yet I could see me in some years potentially having to do battle with a potential buyers solicitor over warranties and what not when actually they should be more concerned about the non-BC signed off, self-certified mass produced houses built with little care or quality.

 

 

Ours came to inspect the footings Didn’t get out of the car 

To muddy for his shiny loafers 

Came to inspect the roof 

Looked from the ground and said it’s a grand job

Final sign off spent ten minutes with us telling us what he needed to certify 

Then disappeared without looking round 

Each time 

Send me some pictures

Chances of ever making a claim are probably less than NHBC 

 It the banks aren’t interested in that 

They just want that bit of paper 

 

The next house I build I will do one retrospectively as my friend did and advised me to do 

 

 

[Carrerahill]

5 minutes ago, nod said:

The next house I build I will do one retrospectively as my friend did and advised me to do 

 

A friend of ours got PP then built an extension about half the size of his house again. BC as far as he knows are completely unaware of the buildings existence, that was built in 2004. He is still there now.

 

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Carrerahill

[Declan52]

It's so strange because if you have had an architect certified build then as it's their own insurance on the line they will actually inspect the build during the process.

 

[nod]

5 minutes ago, Carrerahill said:

A friend of ours got PP then built an extension about half the size of his house again. BC as far as he knows are completely unaware of the buildings existence, that was built in 2004. He is still there now.

 

 

You still need building control sign off 

But most of these companies seen to rely on BC to do there job for them 

[nod]

6 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

It's so strange because if you have had an architect certified build then as it's their own insurance on the line they will actually inspect the build during the process.

 

We where quite happy to go with an Architect cert About half price 

But a friend who is a manager at HSBC told us they and other won’t accept an AC 

[Oz07]

Architects certificate perfectly mortgageable. I've sold a number of new builds with them. If you look the CML guidebook you will find about 95% of lenders accept them. As nod says hsbc and a few others don't but majority do. Your architect has to me RIBA and ARB. 

[anonfool77]

Thank you all for the replies. 

This is incredibly stressful and frustrating. I have to admit I'm shocked the issue was not raised earlier in the process.
I spoke to our sellers and their view is that it would be too difficult to get an NHBC certificate - which probably is true.
On the other hand if we re-apply with another lender we lose £2.5k in fees etc we already paid to our current lender.

If we proceed with another lender, could we then retrospectively apply for NHBC cert so if we have to sell we won't be facing the same issues?
Or is it only the builder of the property that can apply for it? 

 

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by anonfool77

[nod]

The warrantee my friend used Retrospectively was Protec 

Tge same one goat I stumped up for ?

[anonfool77]

23 minutes ago, nod said:

We where quite happy to go with an Architect cert About half price 

But a friend who is a manager at HSBC told us they and other won’t accept an AC 

You are correct - our lender is HSBC
When I spoke to our mortgage advisor he said he's never heard of most of the banks listed in the AC approved list.
Right now the only suitable lender that will accept AC is coventry building society.

:/

[anonfool77]

16 minutes ago, nod said:

The warrantee my friend used Retrospectively was Protec 

Tge same one goat I stumped up for ?

Thanks for that. I think they don't do retrospective warrantees any more. I'm pretty sure I called them and they told me so but I will try again to be sure. Thanks.

[recoveringbuilder]

19 minutes ago, anonfool77 said:

20 minutes ago, anonfool77 said:

On the other hand if we re-apply with another lender we lose £2.5k in fees etc we already paid to our current lender

That seems like a helluva lot of fees!

[nod]

15 minutes ago, anonfool77 said:

Thanks for that. I think they don't do retrospective warrantees any more. I'm pretty sure I called them and they told me so but I will try again to be sure. Thanks.

Just googled 

They are still advertising Retro 

along with quite few others 

[Oz07]

Never heard of most of the banks which accept a.c. what complete hyperbole. He's obviously useless at his job I would suggest I can do it better than him.

[Oz07]

A decent advisor should have been on the ball and made this one of the first questions he asked you before you shelled out 2.5k in fees. Anyone who's bought one of mine previously I make sure they know it's arc cert and I see their mortgage approval with suitable lender before the sold board goes up. 

[newhome]

I know that you say that you are limited in terms of lender but worth having a look round for a different one. The list of lenders and what they will accept (assuming this is up to date) is here (assuming England and Wales - there is a different list for Scotland). Some will still accept a certificate from an architect and some seem to not require a warranty if you are not the first occupant. 

 

https://www.cml.org.uk/lenders-handbook/englandandwales/question-list/1913/

 

 

[anonfool77]

1 hour ago, nod said:

Just googled 

They are still advertising Retro 

along with quite few others 

You are correct - I found it here: https://www.protekwarranty.co.uk/retrospective-warranty/ 
I must have called some other place.

[anonfool77]

37 minutes ago, newhome said:

I know that you say that you are limited in terms of lender but worth having a look round for a different one. The list of lenders and what they will accept (assuming this is up to date) is here (assuming England and Wales - there is a different list for Scotland). Some will still accept a certificate from an architect and some seem to not require a warranty if you are not the first occupant. 

 

https://www.cml.org.uk/lenders-handbook/englandandwales/question-list/1913/

 

 

Thanks - we have a list from our sellers (attached) - because of our financial arrangements the only viable option is Coventry Building Society.

 

1. ABC+ Approved Lender List.pdf

[nod]

If it was down to me 

I would prefer an Architect  cert as they do actually inspect and speaking as a contractor They can be a pain in the arse with detail 

 

I think with the big banks it will be a case of that’s how we have always done things 

 

The guy from Protect excluded our fibreglass flat roof because I had done it myself

But if we where to take a separate indemnity out that would be ok 

The slate roof was fine even though had done the whole roof myself. Because I had a certificate saying grade 1 slates 

That bit of paper again 

 

 

[anonfool77]

45 minutes ago, nod said:

If it was down to me 

I would prefer an Architect  cert as they do actually inspect and speaking as a contractor They can be a pain in the arse with detail 

 

I think with the big banks it will be a case of that’s how we have always done things 

 

The guy from Protect excluded our fibreglass flat roof because I had done it myself

But if we where to take a separate indemnity out that would be ok 

The slate roof was fine even though had done the whole roof myself. Because I had a certificate saying grade 1 slates 

That bit of paper again 

 

 

Thank you -- I'll see if I can get an approx quote from them tomorrow.