TimmyBr Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 Offer accepted on recent barn conversion in Yorkshire with mortgage. Full building survey revealed a number of build issues including roof and potential poor workmanship. Further surveys include damp and timber ok. But big issue now is no structural warranty and without which it looks extremely unlikely to get mortgable (which is about 1/4 of LTV). Barn conversion was signed off by building control but no guarantees or warranties or evidence such as tanking in the legal paperwork from the owner as yet (which is basically the law property society form only). Our offer was accepted on our mortgage but clearly this barn conversion should be for cash buyers only. From reading the excellent advice on here a retrospective structural warranty would be extremely costly with no paperwork or proof of timber treatment to damp proofing. Can anyone advise on what retrospective structural warranty could cost and what paperwork required ie proof of tanking guarantee etc. It feels like a very bad job done but before we walk away thought worth checking structural warranty quotes first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 How long ago was the completion certificate issued? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 I recently got a retrospective warranty on my build with no initial one, not all mortgage companies accept them tho. They inspected the build and council documentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelvin Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 If it’s very bad workmanship then walk away. If all the obvious things are bad then there will be lot of bad workmanship with things like insulation and airtightness (which is likely to be piss poor) which you can’t easily fix. According to many on here structural warranties are hard to claim on so they really just help people get a mortgage. Our previous house was a new barn conversion and had a litany of problems all of which got fixed by the builder eventually. However our neighbours were less fortunate as they had an internal load bearing wall move by 3cm four years after moving in. They managed to eventually get the structural warranty to cover it but it took 9 months then another 6 months to repair it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimmyBr Posted November 20, 2023 Author Share Posted November 20, 2023 20 minutes ago, ProDave said: How long ago was the completion certificate issued? March 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimmyBr Posted November 20, 2023 Author Share Posted November 20, 2023 11 minutes ago, Kelvin said: If it’s very bad workmanship then walk away. If all the obvious things are bad then there will be lot of bad workmanship with things like insulation and airtightness (which is likely to be piss poor) which you can’t easily fix. According to many on here structural warranties are hard to claim on so they really just help people get a mortgage. Our previous house was a new barn conversion and had a litany of problems all of which got fixed by the builder eventually. However our neighbours were less fortunate as they had an internal load bearing wall move by 3cm four years after moving in. They managed to eventually get the structural warranty to cover it but it took 9 months then another 6 months to repair it. Hmmm... We have had full building survey and followed up with wall, damp and timber surveys too. But struggling to understand how building control signed off with no documentation and why no guarantees in place for damp proofing, treatment of woodworm etc. Seems sloppy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozza Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 Agree with @Kelvin ‘s comments. Why hasn’t vendor secured a warranty themselves. Why are they selling after completing a couple of years of completion. I’d be walking away, too many red flags. All the risk would be on you. Doubt a warranty company would provide sufficient coverage to take in the risk. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimmyBr Posted November 20, 2023 Author Share Posted November 20, 2023 Thanks for the advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveasteading Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 39 minutes ago, TimmyBr said: struggling to understand how building control signed off with no documentation and why no guarantees in place As many previous discussions: building control do spot checks by invitation. Many things go uninspected. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimmyBr Posted November 20, 2023 Author Share Posted November 20, 2023 3 hours ago, ProDave said: 2 hours ago, TimmyBr said: Thanks for the advice. Really appreciate the sage advice and yes red flags all over the place. If the seller accepted an offer with a small mortgage (we had to submit our mortgage agreed in principle) is this misrepresentation knowing that they did not have structural warranty in place? We are quite far down the conveyancing process and several surveys done too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelvin Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 Only if they advertised having a structural warranty. A new house doesn’t need to have one in place. If your lender won’t offer a mortgage without one then you go back to the vendor and tell them this and that you’ll only proceed if they put one in place. This will be true for anyone buying it with a mortgage. Cash buyers less of a problem and most houses are sold without them. In this current market keen buyers are few and far between so you have a reasonable negotiating hand if you really want the house. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimmyBr Posted November 20, 2023 Author Share Posted November 20, 2023 5 minutes ago, Kelvin said: Only if they advertised having a structural warranty. A new house doesn’t need to have one in place. If your lender won’t offer a mortgage without one then you go back to the vendor and tell them this and that you’ll only proceed if they put one in place. This will be true for anyone buying it with a mortgage. Cash buyers less of a problem and most houses are sold without them. In this current market keen buyers are few and far between so you have a reasonable negotiating hand if you really want the house. Thanks! Been reading all of your posts today with great interest. Lots of sage advice. Appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveasteading Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 If it is an old barn, done up by the farmer. 1. It has stood a long time and isn't about to fall down. But check the condition of timbers... 2. Farming build quality is traditionally well below housing standards. Cows and hay bales don't complain. Beware general bodging, through ignorance and corner cutting, prob more than deceit. Needs a survey I'd think. Have you been there on a wet day? Not just to see any leaks, but also gutters and drains in action. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimmyBr Posted November 20, 2023 Author Share Posted November 20, 2023 6 minutes ago, saveasteading said: If it is an old barn, done up by the farmer. 1. It has stood a long time and isn't about to fall down. But check the condition of timbers... 2. Farming build quality is traditionally well below housing standards. Cows and hay bales don't complain. Beware general bodging, through ignorance and corner cutting, prob more than deceit. Needs a survey I'd think. Have you been there on a wet day? Not just to see any leaks, but also gutters and drains in action. Yes full building survey by local surveyor who specialises in old buildings and followed up with timber and damp and external wall. Seen on wet day in late Oct and was warm and no evidence of leaking. I grew up in 500 year old farmhouse so used to wonkiness, deathwatch beetle, beams etc but clearly some elements of bodging going on. Our solicitor chasing for SW and other paperwork. Thanks for advice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Ambrose Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 Just to add a bit of balance (and to state the obvious) - of course, structural warranties are generally only for 10 years. This means, that the vast majority of UK houses (i.e. ones over 10 years old) get sold without one. What's more, structural warranties only cover structural problems. Then, supposing you find a structural problem between 3 and 10 years out - what do you think your chances are of claiming on the warranty after the warranty company has argued 'no it wasn't bad structural design, it was bad workmanship' etc etc etc. That is, the warranty won't be 100% protection - 50% maybe? I think I would dig into the detailed problems and see which really bother you and the surveyor. Negotiate money off to cover these if you can - because 'cash buyers only' reduces the available market. Maybe contact the builder and ask a few polite questions to cover some unknowns. See if the seller wants to provide an architect's or SE's cert - again these are not 100% watertight. Life is all a bit of a risk and even if you take all the insurance and make all the mitigations you can, there'll still be uncovered risk - on this and every other house purchase. Take a view of seller and builder integrity. By all means go in with your eyes open and as best informed as you can be, then make your decision bearing in mind how much you want the house and how much risk you're happy to bear - warranty or not. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Johnson1471 Posted December 28, 2023 Share Posted December 28, 2023 (edited) Not sure if this is of any help but if you're still looking for a rough estimate, there are warranty calculator tool on some websites. Some may also be able to help with a retrospective warranty. Edited December 29, 2023 by Nickfromwales Commercial link removed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now