daydreamer Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 Hi, I have never built anything but hoping to one day able to build a house. Well, I don't really have to build one but I am a sucker for energy efficient houses and it is very hard to find a good second hand one. I live in London at the moment and thinking of finding a plot with an existing house on it to demolish and rebuild. Does anyone know if councils only allow demolish if the existing house is in a rundown state? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorfun Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 9 minutes ago, daydreamer said: Hi, I have never built anything but hoping to one day able to build a house. Well, I don't really have to build one but I am a sucker for energy efficient houses and it is very hard to find a good second hand one. I live in London at the moment and thinking of finding a plot with an existing house on it to demolish and rebuild. Does anyone know if councils only allow demolish if the existing house is in a rundown state? Thank you. welcome. we had the same dream and, after two failed attempts, we finally found and bought a bungalow to demolish. it was a long journey but we're now at a watertight stage and can see the finish line in the not too distant future we hope! so stick with the dream and ride the ups and downs of the journey and you can make it happen. 🙂 I personally don't think the state of the house is a considering factor but others who know more will be along shortly I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 Welcome How much energy does your current house use? How large is it and how many of you in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitpipe Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 Welcome, bought our original unreformed 1950's detached house in 2011, knocked down in 2015 and moved into the new one 2016. Unless the property is listed or otherwise protected, it's your financial decision to demolish. The only party who may have an issue is your mortgage provider if you used one for the purchase (happened to us). We had to use the build fund to redeem the mortgage and then borrow anew for a self build mortgage using the plot as the security. TBH, that's where 90% of the value was as the house itself was knackered but it gave the original high st lender the willies so they would not agree. We did consider doing it without telling them (and have friends who did major 'reduce it to two walls' refurbs on the QT) but the consequences would have been severe and given we'd had a bumpy ride getting planning, I would not have put it past a neighbour to cause trouble. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 3 hours ago, daydreamer said: Does anyone know if councils only allow demolish if the existing house is in a rundown state? Welcome! We knocked down a very tired old bungalow after we got planning permission to rebuild. As others have said, the condition of the house is not relevant, but you do need to advise the council of your intention in advance of doing so. It's been a long time since we did it, but I vaguely recall you had to tell them so many weeks or a month before your planned demolition date, and if they didn't say otherwise, you were fine to proceed. Worth looking into the details before committing, of course, but no-one's going to stop you replacing a house unless (as @Bitpipe said) it's listed or perhaps in a conservation area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daydreamer Posted April 4, 2022 Author Share Posted April 4, 2022 7 hours ago, SteamyTea said: Welcome How much energy does your current house use? How large is it and how many of you in it. The two of us live in a small terrace at the moment (2 bedroom + converted loft, 4.3m x 7m on ground floor and first floor) and we try to stay low on energy usage. In February, we used around 240kW electricity + 425 kWh gas. We try to avoid heating, me and the Mrs gets skin irritation when the heating dries the air up. That's why a house that minimises heating need is going to be ideal for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daydreamer Posted April 4, 2022 Author Share Posted April 4, 2022 @Thorfun @Bitpipe @jack Thank you. It's good to know that it is a possible route and others have succeeded and made it worthwhile. Good point on the mortgage, I did not consider that. I will need to do a lot more reading in the finance section of the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted April 5, 2022 Share Posted April 5, 2022 4 hours ago, daydreamer said: The two of us live in a small terrace at the moment (2 bedroom + converted loft, 4.3m x 7m on ground floor and first floor) and we try to stay low on energy usage. In February, we used around 240kW electricity + 425 kWh gas. Similar size to mine then. I use >4 MWh/year. 4 hours ago, daydreamer said: skin irritation Me to, but it is an allergy to some known things, and some unknown things. Be wary of too little heating as it can cause damp induced moulds to appear, which can cause health problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daydreamer Posted April 6, 2022 Author Share Posted April 6, 2022 On 04/04/2022 at 15:45, Bitpipe said: Welcome, bought our original unreformed 1950's detached house in 2011, knocked down in 2015 and moved into the new one 2016. Unless the property is listed or otherwise protected, it's your financial decision to demolish. The only party who may have an issue is your mortgage provider if you used one for the purchase (happened to us). We had to use the build fund to redeem the mortgage and then borrow anew for a self build mortgage using the plot as the security. TBH, that's where 90% of the value was as the house itself was knackered but it gave the original high st lender the willies so they would not agree. We did consider doing it without telling them (and have friends who did major 'reduce it to two walls' refurbs on the QT) but the consequences would have been severe and given we'd had a bumpy ride getting planning, I would not have put it past a neighbour to cause trouble. Good luck! @Bitpipe Is my understanding correct that I will need enough fund to purchase a property, and then apply for self build mortgage for the build? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitpipe Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 1 hour ago, daydreamer said: @Bitpipe Is my understanding correct that I will need enough fund to purchase a property, and then apply for self build mortgage for the build? I don't think there is any one way to do this but any lender will be expecting you to have some funds to put towards the purchase (deposit) and / or project. My own experience was that a high st lender was happy to offer a mortgage to buy the original property but was not comfortable in allowing it to be demolished and rebuilt (using our own funds) as they felt they had lost their security - even though the plot value alone was in excess of what we had borrowed from them. So we paid off the mortgage with the build funds and then got a self build mortgage from Ecology for the build itself. Maybe others here have managed to borrow the whole lot (purchase and build) from one lender. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daydreamer Posted April 6, 2022 Author Share Posted April 6, 2022 3 hours ago, Bitpipe said: I don't think there is any one way to do this but any lender will be expecting you to have some funds to put towards the purchase (deposit) and / or project. My own experience was that a high st lender was happy to offer a mortgage to buy the original property but was not comfortable in allowing it to be demolished and rebuilt (using our own funds) as they felt they had lost their security - even though the plot value alone was in excess of what we had borrowed from them. So we paid off the mortgage with the build funds and then got a self build mortgage from Ecology for the build itself. Maybe others here have managed to borrow the whole lot (purchase and build) from one lender. Thank you, @Bitpipe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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