Biggest lenders?

[SarahG]

I know, probably the worst time to look at a self build mortgage!

 

We were going to look at Ecology, but they only deal with SAP 88+ and we are 81. It is sadly going to cost us too much to get the SAP rating up. Just wondered if anyone had any opinions on who might be the biggest lenders. Our LTV is about 30% as we only want to borrow about half of the value of the existing plot, so that isn't an issue. However, due to increasing costs we want to borrow the maximum we can on our earnings (assuming we can afford the monthly payments of course!).

 

Just wondered if anyone had any opinions or has been in a similar situation and advise on who they went with?

 

Thanks

[SteamyTea]

8 minutes ago, SarahG said:

only deal with SAP 88+ and we are 81. It is sadly going to cost us too much to get the SAP rating up

Why, probably only a few changes to get it up, swap out some nice to have for better to haves.

[SarahG]

4 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Why, probably only a few changes to get it up, swap out some nice to have for better to haves.

You are assuming we have "nice to haves" 😂. We could ditch the log burner which I imagine is not great on a SAP report, but that's one thing we really want.. we are planning on some pv's in the future but we would need to get planning sorted for those.

[Conor]

9 hours ago, SarahG said:

You are assuming we have "nice to haves" 😂. We could ditch the log burner which I imagine is not great on a SAP report, but that's one thing we really want.. we are planning on some pv's in the future but we would need to get planning sorted for those.

Log burner won't matter on SAP. You won't need planning for the PV panels if they are not visible from the front of the house, even in a conservation area. A non-material amendment to your plans might be all you need. Our panels weren't even mentioned by the planners.

 

FYI you don't actually have to build any of these extra things, they just have to appear on the initial EPC for ecology. You can ditch them if you can't afford them. So stick on a load of PV, spec an airtightness of 3ach, triple glazed windows and get speaking to the best lender there is.

 

Bear in mind that basically all self build lenders sell variable rate mortgages, so you'll need to budget for repayments based on rates of 10% or more, for at least 2 years.

[Barryscotland]

11 hours ago, SarahG said:

You are assuming we have "nice to haves" 😂. We could ditch the log burner which I imagine is not great on a SAP report, but that's one thing we really want.. we are planning on some pv's in the future but we would need to get planning sorted for those.

 

The Log burner must help with the sap as when we removed ours from our build we had to add a few more solar panels to offset it

[ProDave]

Didn't we already discuss this?  It is the as built SAP that matters, there you tell the assessor all the improvements and correct the often poor assumptions of the design SAP.

 

Solar PV has to be the easiest one to add.  Just ask your assessor how much (in kWp) of solar PV you would need to push you up to the rating you want?  It need not cost much, if roof mounted then an in roof system saves on tiles so costs little and the scaffold is already there etc.  You are probably being misled by quotes for retro fit PV where the roof has to be scaffolded and a lot of MCS schemes seem to give over inflated quotes.  Just getting the trades already on site to fit it, need not cost a lot more than the actual materials.