solidified is back with a vengeance...

solidified is back with a vengeance. As the housing market lifts and homeowner consider selling, many ten of thousands of populace may find themselves trapped - unable to exchange because no-one will lend currency to a buyer of a concrete-built property

frequently pre-fab, often high rises, for the greatest part built between the 1930s and 1960 many of these properties are the archetypal council monstrosities, however some surprisingly upmarket properties designed by the agency of famous architects are also affected.

nation who bought from their local council in a less degree than right-to-buy may not have realised that the lack of something called a PRC certificate will inhibit any lender giving a mortgage to a of recent origin buyer, effectively making it impossible to vend The 1984 Defective Premises Act forces proprietors to get such a certificate to ascertain the building material is safe from "concrete cancer" - a condition that makes compact crumble and buildings fall. still according to Malcolm Hollis, Professor of Building Surveying at Reading University and spokesman for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, while councils may have carried disclosed repairs to secure buildings, you might still not be able to come by a PRC. The repairs, although vigorous may not be technically acceptable.

To make loans against properties, lender also ne test that they are not built using higher allumina bond (HAC). This material has decayed in the past, causing buildings to decay and collapse. Not being able to find records of the building materials used can come in lenders refusing mortgages.

Another afflicted and expanding cluster is people who live in thicken constructions with a PRC certificate and without HAC, unless who still cannot sell because mortgage companies will not loan against properties they view as difficult to sell

Patrick Bunton, manager at London & fatherland a mortgage broker in Bath, says proprietors are finding there is nothing structurally wrongful with their property but they are penalised because the housing sink has made their home high-risk as a lending proposition. greatest in number mortgage firms now refuse to make loans upon any form of concrete construction. Phil Re corporate communications manager of National & Provincial building society, says: "Lender have tightened up their lending policies, having had their fingers burnt in the late Eighties. They will not afford money where once they may have been prepared to take the risk."

As well as commonalty who live in concrete constructions, those with studio or one-bedroom flats, those above the sixth floor in a high-rise, and those above a store or in a council housing estate are all encountering question s selling their homes. These emblems of dwellings lost the greatest in number value by proportion in the sink So long as there is still a relatively cheap replenish of more desirable and more saleable residences forward the market, lenders are more averse to the higher-risk properties.

Caroline and Edward McBride locate their hearts on a flat in a cake construction block in Bayswater, London, moreover they had problems trying to learn a mortgage. "It's a real pain. We really like the thing owned and architecturally it's very significant," said Mr McBride. (The leash asked us not to use their real names, in the same manner as not to jeopardise negotiations with lenders)

Mr McBride is a director of an advertising company and Mr McBride is a PA. The flat was designed by dint of Kenneth Frampton, the distinguished architect and architectural writer who is now Professor of Architecture at Columbia University in the US.

Records showed there was no HAC used in construction. Valuers raise nothing structurally wrong with the building unless one by one, lenders refused loans. The tie tried Bristol & West, Nationwide and Alliance & Leicester building societies, Abbey National, and several smaller lender to no avail. National & Provincial building society, shortly to become part of Abbey National, said it would confer against the property, but changed its mind when it originate out the McBrides were retaining another mortgage upon a property they had been unable to sell

Mr McBride notes the managing agents were able arrange insurance for the building without any point in dispute "If the insurers had no question insuring the property, why won't the lender lend?" he asked.

The vexed question has cost the McBrides centurys of pounds. They found the lending institutions would sole come to a decision after they had sent a valuer in, which splendor pounds 100-pounds 200 a visit. Finally they approached John Charcol, a mortgage middleman in London, which persuaded the Halifax to give on the flat. "The Halifax saved our lives. They've got a database of buildings and present the appearance to be able to distinguish forward an individual basis rather than general rules" Mr McBride said.

Walter Avrili, operations director for John Charcol, said: "The benefit of going [i]or[/i] part of to the other a mortgage broker for non-standard properties is they can save you time and standard of value They know which lender will do what. You can save the necessary valuations." The downside of using a go-between however, is you will normally have to pay a fee-simple of possibly hundreds of pounds