Interesting property, what happened?

[Lady_Beefmaster]

CorradoTDI said:

Lady_Beefmaster said:

Looks like someone made an offer of £385k in Feb

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...

Yeah that's b0ll0cks - if it was a real offer and the asking is £395 then they'ed be bonkers not to accept it and take it off the market, usual estate agent bullst!

As it looks like it's been repossessed and the mortgage company is in possession of the property they have to advertise when an offer is made and ask others to submit all other offers, it's then left on the market until legal exchange. They have to get the opportunity to get the maximum return for the lender as anything left will still be the responsibility of the debtor (or depending on the circumstances the bank may write off the outstanding debt), but they have to ensure they get the maximum return possible so they can't be accused of selling it off cheap to the detriment of their debtor.

Be interesting to see if it ever does

[richard at home]

Russ T Bolt said:

I particularly liked the cinema room, if they are still calling it that.

edit to add that we made it into the annex, clearly not been lived in for a very long time, but the space could be useful, but think there was something around the planning on it from memory. Did it need to be removed ?

Edited by Russ T Bolt on Saturday 7th May 12:24

The Annex has to be used as part of the main accommodation, i.e. you can't sub let it or rent it out.

I saw the fancy granite on the windows, but they must have been barking to spend money on that and have a roof that's failed in 3 years...

The position of the building means it is very, very exposed. The only thing it doesn't get is direct wave impacts! So a flat roof is going to need to be very high spec to survive.

I really wanted to see if the route through to the magazine was there, but I suspect the magazine would be a death trap to walk about in, given the amount of rubbish around the outside of it and the obvious signs of people drinking and other substance abuse inside the compound.

I was amazed it hasn't been vandalised given the lack of security.

Yes the bedrooms were tiny and awkward shapes (like a wedge of cheese) and most had horrible views.

I thought that £250 was the most they'd get for for it...


Did you contact planning about it?

Did you find out how much you have to pay a year for upkeep of the track?

[Russ T Bolt]

Lady_Beefmaster said:

CorradoTDI said:

Lady_Beefmaster said:

Looks like someone made an offer of £385k in Feb

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...

Yeah that's b0ll0cks - if it was a real offer and the asking is £395 then they'ed be bonkers not to accept it and take it off the market, usual estate agent bullst!

As it looks like it's been repossessed and the mortgage company is in possession of the property they have to advertise when an offer is made and ask others to submit all other offers, it's then left on the market until legal exchange. They have to get the opportunity to get the maximum return for the lender as anything left will still be the responsibility of the debtor (or depending on the circumstances the bank may write off the outstanding debt), but they have to ensure they get the maximum return possible so they can't be accused of selling it off cheap to the detriment of their debtor.

Be interesting to see if it ever does

It has been repossessed, my expression of interest was to the agent and not a formal offer.

The property isn't mortgageable so surprised it hasn't yet been completed.

[Russ T Bolt]

richard at home said:

Russ T Bolt said:

I particularly liked the cinema room, if they are still calling it that.

edit to add that we made it into the annex, clearly not been lived in for a very long time, but the space could be useful, but think there was something around the planning on it from memory. Did it need to be removed ?

Edited by Russ T Bolt on Saturday 7th May 12:24

The Annex has to be used as part of the main accommodation, i.e. you can't sub let it or rent it out.

I saw the fancy granite on the windows, but they must have been barking to spend money on that and have a roof that's failed in 3 years...

The position of the building means it is very, very exposed. The only thing it doesn't get is direct wave impacts! So a flat roof is going to need to be very high spec to survive.

I really wanted to see if the route through to the magazine was there, but I suspect the magazine would be a death trap to walk about in, given the amount of rubbish around the outside of it and the obvious signs of people drinking and other substance abuse inside the compound.

I was amazed it hasn't been vandalised given the lack of security.

Yes the bedrooms were tiny and awkward shapes (like a wedge of cheese) and most had horrible views.

I thought that £250 was the most they'd get for for it...


Did you contact planning about it?

Did you find out how much you have to pay a year for upkeep of the track?

Not directly, but did a fair bit of digging on background.

I had the planning approval with me, but the agent told me the plans I had were out of date (they weren't) and that there were a new set with removal of the annex. I asked him to forward info but he never did.

The annex was important as it would give us somewhere for my sister to stay when she is in the UK.

I didn't push it because I really didn't like the area, my wife however really liked the views from the house, but even she agreed the layout wouldn't work for us.

We have since looked at a lovely house in Seaton, which will be impacted by cliff erosion in the not too distant future, but the vendor wants unrealistic money for a depreciating asset. Again I would take a punt at the right money.

[VX0075]

interesting topic, for a second I thought I'd made it as it was within budget, but then i read the details...lucky it wasn't homes under the hammer and I'd bought it without looking at the particulars lol.

EDIT - btw just a bit of banter, it must be pretty soul destroying to have something which is probably a dream house taken away by the bank!

[richard at home]

VX0075 said:

interesting topic, for a second I thought I'd made it as it was within budget, but then i read the details...lucky it wasn't homes under the hammer and I'd bought it without looking at the particulars lol.

EDIT - btw just a bit of banter, it must be pretty soul destroying to have something which is probably a dream house taken away by the bank!

Indeed! Some told me that the main issue wasn't the owners, it was the people advising them, but who knows...

Maybe they got carried away with being on Grand Designs etc.

They certainly put in a lot of high end plumbing, networked audio, nice doors, etc, but presumably their builder didn't want to worry them with building control and their project manager decided to put nice taps ahead of the massive ground works required prior to moving in!

Perhaps they were taken advantage of, I don't know. I'm sure they were gutted by the whole thing.

[vacuus]

I also had a look at the property in Dec 2015. It had been repossessed and eventually sold for c £385k. The buyer is very brave.

Key issue is erosion and stability. The is a considerable risk the whole thing goes into the sea. In about 2009 (a year after the purchase) a cave on the rockface below the fort was found, following a rock fall. If you look over the edge there is no sea for at least 100ft, it is all rock which has fallen. In about 2012 a large crack opened up in the rockface between the Blacknor Fort conversion and the adjacent gun emplacement in the adjoining property. If you are a rock climber the traverse to Blacknor cave has gone up the difficulty scale from 1 to 6. If you own a property close the the new crack, your risk of losing your money has gone up from rather more than from 1 to 6,

The fort is built on a glacis - a large mound of earth with a retaining wall on the seaward side. This wall provides lateral support to the glacis. If it fails the glacis will collapse taking the fort with it. The wall is in a terrible state with some of the largest stone pieces missing. This reveals the brickwork behind which is bowing both vertically and laterally. It is neither cheap nor easy to repair a load bearing wall with only 4 feet to a long drop. The wall also suffered damage from rock climbers hammering in metalwork soon after the cave was uncovered.

The coastal path from West Weares to Blacknor (1/3 mile) is closed in 2 places following rock falls in the past 18 months. There have been more rock falls in this area in the past 2 years than in the previous 90 years. The further away path closure has been rerouted, the 2nd and closer one is permanent as the council found the whole area is structurally unsound.

Albion Quarries, next door to the adjacent part of the fort, were going to extend their quarry across the access road and include the games field next to the entrance from the tarmac road. Local opposition stopped this, Instead Albion have taken a 40 year license to mine the Portland stone from under the Crown Estate land. This may produce unhelpful vibrations.

The interior fitout is bonkers. Money has been lavished on decent joinery, bathrooms etc. The flooring and many of the fitting are cheap. The kitchen units have a granite (effect?) top on a standard mdf substrate. If/when this gets wet it will expand and crack the tops. Moisture resistant MDF is standard in all but the cheapest kitchen tops, which are laminated. Whoever built the kitchen did not know what he was doing. There is also no extraction in the kitchen. As it is open plan, the whole place will smell of cooking.

Good points:-

1 The seaward view is stunning
2 errr that's it


I wish whoever bought it the best of luck.