Moving in to an unfinished self build

[hbooth]

At what stage are you allowed to move into an unfinished self build? Are there any laws that prohibit you living in a self build that is wind an water tight but not all finished inside? I know there will be things that should be done before moving in like electrics, water and drainage but what is the earliest stage that you can move in and get registerd for things like bin collections etc. Also if the house gets registered for waste collections does that mean that the VAT reclaim needs to be filed within 3 months? The gov website says "You must claim within 3 months of the building work being completed."

 

Sorry I'm new to this and I know money will be tight so looking at anyway to save to fund the build and not paying rent will be a big saving.

[Gone West]

You may well have the council tax officer coming round at intervals to check whether it is habitable so they can start charging you council tax. If you are living in it they will charge you, strictly speaking habitable, or not. I did my VAT reclaim a few years ago once it was signed off by building control but I think you can use when you start paying council tax in order to claim VAT. I should check on that as they seem to change the rules at times.

[Faz]

Got my Final Inspection due on the 14th - I am moving on the 17th irrespective of the outcome.

 

The house is essentially finished though with the exception of the landscaping and fencing.

[hbooth]

10 minutes ago, Faz said:

Got my Final Inspection due on the 14th - I am moving on the 17th irrespective of the outcome.

 

The house is essentially finished though with the exception of the landscaping and fencing.

I am thinking that there will still be plenty of work to do when we move in, i.e. some bathrooms to finish installing, loads of decorating still to do and all the outside work will defo need doing as there is no money in the budget for them anyway. If we can get the place to a point where there are a few habitable rooms, kitchen is in, one bathroom up and running then we would like to move in while I finish the works to save £££.

[ProDave]

It depends to some extent where you are?  And are you living on site say in a static caravan or not?

 

We moved in about 3 years before it was finished, but "officially" we were still living in the static caravan, it's just that we happened (cough) to spend some time in the house, because it was more comfortable than the caravan.  A year before completion we regularised that with a temporary habitation certificate which you can get in Scotland from building control and completed late last summer.

 

Being in the caravan and paying band A council tax on that meant we got the bins emptied and the address registered etc but in no way impinged on the VAT claim for the final house.

 

Pre Covid the council tax surveyor was a regular visitor but when we actually completed I had to actually contact them to tell them to value the house, and they did that without visiting so presumably off the plans.

[Dave Jones]

nothing at all to stop you. Just cough up the council tax.

[hbooth]

8 minutes ago, ProDave said:

It depends to some extent where you are?  And are you living on site say in a static caravan or not?

 

We moved in about 3 years before it was finished, but "officially" we were still living in the static caravan, it's just that we happened (cough) to spend some time in the house, because it was more comfortable than the caravan.  A year before completion we regularised that with a temporary habitation certificate which you can get in Scotland from building control and completed late last summer.

 

Being in the caravan and paying band A council tax on that meant we got the bins emptied and the address registered etc but in no way impinged on the VAT claim for the final house.

 

Pre Covid the council tax surveyor was a regular visitor but when we actually completed I had to actually contact them to tell them to value the house, and they did that without visiting so presumably off the plans.

I like this. We will be living in rented accomodation during the build, very expensive I know but with two kids a dog and a cat it's prefererable to living on site in a static caravan. However from what you are saying there is a possiblity that when we get to wind and water tight and maybe a few habitable rooms we could then potentially move into a static cravan on site and live in this while we (cough) spend some time in the house until it's all completed. Either that or we just pay the full amount of council tax. So both are options.

[ProDave]

Yes that is basically what we did.  We lived in our old house (2 doors down the road) during the start of the build.  The house was wind and watertight when we moved into the static caravan and that triggered paying band A council tax on it when we moved in.  At that stage we had the laundry set up in the (very unfinished) utility room and an office space set up in what was to become the living room.  That and the storage space the house shell offered, took some of the pressure off caravan living.

 

We then concentrated on getting the kitchen / diner close to finished and the main bathroom close to finished, and 2 bedrooms plastered and painted. Then we started "spending some time" in the house while we built it around us.

[Faz]

You need to get the plumbing and electrics done mate - can't live in the place until it is wet and the lights are on.  To do this all bathrooms need to be done and tiled first and the kitchen plumbed and isolated if not in.

 

At this stage you are nearly done anyways...

 

You have to also ask yourself 'why would I want to live in a shithole?'. You are going to hate the place enough by the time it is done anyway - at least you have the opportunity to f*&ck off of an evening and leave it in the rear view mirror for a few hours - that is valuable in and of itself.

 

Served notice on my rental last week - happy days. I would have probably topped myself if I had to live in a caravan. On the Fen. In winter...  Yep - definately a bullet!

 

[LA3222]

1 hour ago, hbooth said:

I like this. We will be living in rented accomodation during the build, very expensive I know but with two kids a dog and a cat it's prefererable to living on site in a static caravan. However from what you are saying there is a possiblity that when we get to wind and water tight and maybe a few habitable rooms we could then potentially move into a static cravan on site and live in this while we (cough) spend some time in the house until it's all completed. Either that or we just pay the full amount of council tax. So both are options.

I've just moved out of a van - there was me the missus, 8yr old and 7yr old and two cats when we started. That was 3yrs ago - we reckon living on site has saved us 15k plus. It's one of those things that sounds horrendous on paper but is actually OK. I liken it to a small flat once you make it comfortable. In a way, moving the house has some downsides in that everyone drifts off to different rooms so we are less cohesive - have to make an effort to get everyone chilling together as a family now!

Edited February 4, 2022 by LA3222

[Faz]

Props to you mate - there would have been headlines in the Cambridgeshite Times of mass murders if I had done that!  The wife seems intent on spanking my credit card for over £2k a month for the last 6 monts so the rent is the least of my worries tbh.

 

Don't read the Cambridgeshire Times for the next couple of months btw - nothing to see here!

[LA3222]

4 minutes ago, Faz said:

Props to you mate - there would have been headlines in the Cambridgeshite Times of mass murders if I had done that!  The wife seems intent on spanking my credit card for over £2k a month for the last 6 monts so the rent is the least of my worries tbh.

 

Don't read the Cambridgeshire Times for the next couple of months btw - nothing to see here!

It was a means to an end and it can be OK, I built a wooden lean to which housed a lot of stuff so wasn't cramped. Would I do it again, nope, but then I wouldn't build a house again either!

 

Been there, got the t-shirt, onto the next project which will involve learning how to lay bricks coz I've just about run out of money for my garage, gym and retaining wall?

Edited February 4, 2022 by LA3222

[Faz]

Hear you ,mate - going to build a fair number of new houses - none of which will be for me so will be far easier as a result. Dealing with 'external factpors' ie - the Mrs is a nightmare I didn't expect or deal with very well. The experiance has been poor say the least.

[redtop]

Been in ours a year. Moved in same stage as you, didn't even have internal walls never mind plasterboard. Temp electrics, no heating, stairs, , nada. It was a cold winter! Anyway, we started paying council tax straight away, they couldn't give a monkeys what stage house is in, due to get BC sign of in next 4 weeks and then submit VAT reclaim. In England at least there may be rules, I don't know, but in practice no one cares and if they did you would be complete by the time anything was done. Best thing we did as we ended up swapping kitchen for lounge once we lived in it and saw how it worked as a house.

[nod]

4 hours ago, Dave Jones said:

nothing at all to stop you. Just cough up the council tax.

Exactly 

We where asked for Counsul tax after six months 

No electric water or toilets 

Ended up paying 50% CT six months before we moved in 

If your not to bothered about the CT 

Go for it 

[hbooth]

Thanks for al the replies people. We are living in rented while we build and obviously paying council tax there so it makes not difference to us, just that we will be saving on the rent. One final question though and that is how does it work with things like buildings and contents insurance in an unfinished house? For us to move in water and electrics will defo be sorted to some fashion if not fully complete so it will be habitable but still lots left to do to be finsihsed. Will companies insure in that condition or is there some specialist insurance for self builds?

[ProDave]

it's normal to get a self build policy before you start, it can be harder part way through a build.  Ours covered the building and the static caravan though not the contents of the static caravan. 

[ToughButterCup]

On 04/02/2022 at 16:40, hbooth said:

At what stage are you allowed to move into an unfinished self build? ...

 

 

This set of threads will help you. 

Our car-crash in the making is still being made , as it were. Here's the start of it. More Adventure of TinTin to follow, I suspect.

Read every word - every one of them - written by @newhome about VAT

 

Oh, and a direct answer to the question: there is no limit on how early you can 'move in' . I suspect that your partner will be the best indicator - or even better a 14 or 15 year old daughter. They're good at that sort of stuff .....

[hbooth]

3 minutes ago, ProDave said:

it's normal to get a self build policy before you start, it can be harder part way through a build.  Ours covered the building and the static caravan though not the contents of the static caravan. 

I have site insurance, warranty and building control from self build zone, not sure if it covers the same as buildings and contents insurance would though, I;ll have to check and see

[hbooth]

2 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

 

 

This set of threads will help you. 

Our car-crash in the making is still being made , as it were. Here's the start of it. More Adventure of TinTin to follow, I suspect.

Read every word - every one of them - written by @newhome about VAT

 

Oh, and a direct answer to the question: there is no limit on how early you can 'move in' . I suspect that your partner will be the best indicator - or even better a 14 or 15 year old daughter. They're good at that sort of stuff .....

My wife will defo be the determing factor for when we move in. If it was left to me we'd probably already be living on site in a static to save the pennies.

[LA3222]

I've just taken out a house insurance policy, not finished yet but all my work is now tiling/decorating related so nothing major. The minute you say you don't have a completion certificate though most doors will close irrespective of how finished the house is. Adrian Flux came through for me, I got that name from this forum. Not sure how much of a factor the 'completeness' of my house was in enabling me to switch to a normal policy?‍♂️

[ProDave]

Likewise we moved to a normal policy once we got a temporary habitation certificate. We went through the broker GSI also mentioned on this forum.  We went through the broker due to the all timber construction so in some insurers eyes "non standard construction" and they never actually asked about a completion certificate.  

[Bitpipe]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

Likewise we moved to a normal policy once we got a temporary habitation certificate. We went through the broker GSI also mentioned on this forum.  We went through the broker due to the all timber construction so in some insurers eyes "non standard construction" and they never actually asked about a completion certificate.  

 

We did similar, were on a standard home insurance policy for a year before the cert came through.

 

I suspect any insurance company will happily sell you a policy but you'll only discover issues if you have to claim.

 

I'd guess for contents claims, you'd be fine. If you had to make a claim on the buildings side then lack of a cert may give them a reason to get out of payment.