Selling a Leasehold flat nightmare
Discussion
Hi all,
Are there any experts on here who can help with my problem? I'm selling my flat, in a block that doesn't have any cladding. (I have a letter confirming this)
I have found a great buyer with a large deposit and I have found the house of my dreams. The big problem is that my buyer's lender have asked a few questions regarding the safety of the block, but the managing agent will not answer them. They haven't asked for an EWS1 though.
Are there any lenders out there who will accept the letter regarding the cladding as sufficient, or are my hopes doomed to failure?
Thanks in advance.
Are there any experts on here who can help with my problem? I'm selling my flat, in a block that doesn't have any cladding. (I have a letter confirming this)
I have found a great buyer with a large deposit and I have found the house of my dreams. The big problem is that my buyer's lender have asked a few questions regarding the safety of the block, but the managing agent will not answer them. They haven't asked for an EWS1 though.
Are there any lenders out there who will accept the letter regarding the cladding as sufficient, or are my hopes doomed to failure?
Thanks in advance.
catman said:
Thanks Sarnie. I think that this situation was caused by the Surveyor stating that there appeared to be cladding on the building, when it was clear that there isn't any. Just covering his backside and costing me a sale.
100% arse covering......but it's not him thats cost you the sale, it's the management company not replying.......Sarnie said:
100% arse covering......but it's not him thats cost you the sale, it's the management company not replying.......
Probably. They have said that they're not in a position to right now. I'm gutted. In my head, I had already moved in the house that I found. My buyer feels the same.You could try to contact the Freeholder to put leverage on the managing agent, or if the managing agent is a member of a trade body (e.g RICS) you could contact them to see if they could influence things. Or, how about contacting the directors of the managing agent and complaining? Finally, could you suggest that the buyer gets a surveyor to check the items at your expense?
Gixer, I raised a complaint with the CEO yesterday, having been dicked around for six weeks. I had a reply today, stating that safety tests have been carried out, but they are still waiting for the results.
This means that they can't truthfully answer the questions yet. The lender has stated that they will not even look at any other documents/opinions. They have been reasonable in not demanding an EWS1 though, so I don't hold them responsible really.
Having had an appalling year medically, I was looking forward to an early retirement near my Son. Now it looks like I'll have to go back to work, just to pay the bills.
This means that they can't truthfully answer the questions yet. The lender has stated that they will not even look at any other documents/opinions. They have been reasonable in not demanding an EWS1 though, so I don't hold them responsible really.
Having had an appalling year medically, I was looking forward to an early retirement near my Son. Now it looks like I'll have to go back to work, just to pay the bills.
There was a call in on LBC about this maybe 2 months ago. Some people were saying its taken so long to sort out that their mortgage offers expired.
Others saying they had waited months only to be told it may take 12 months + just to get the testing done due to the backlog. IIRC one guy who called in said he had been quoted time scales of 2-3 years.
Others saying they had waited months only to be told it may take 12 months + just to get the testing done due to the backlog. IIRC one guy who called in said he had been quoted time scales of 2-3 years.
red_slr said:
There was a call in on LBC about this maybe 2 months ago. Some people were saying its taken so long to sort out that their mortgage offers expired.
Others saying they had waited months only to be told it may take 12 months + just to get the testing done due to the backlog. IIRC one guy who called in said he had been quoted time scales of 2-3 years.
I have a number of clients who are completely stuck.........one can't sell until the cladding is replaced in November 2021........one can't remortgage to raise funds to pay off his Ex, he can't sell it either, causing him huge stress...........one has had £400pm costs forced upon them to pay for security to walk around the site 24 hours a day to make sure they don't spontaneously combust......Others saying they had waited months only to be told it may take 12 months + just to get the testing done due to the backlog. IIRC one guy who called in said he had been quoted time scales of 2-3 years.
The issue may be the small number of specialist surveyors who can sign the certificate of safety the lenders require and the very very large number of dwelling owners who need the certificate.
I don't think it's possible to get a block certificate for a whole building. I think every individual dwelling needs one.
ETA:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/sep/05/uk-f...
I don't think it's possible to get a block certificate for a whole building. I think every individual dwelling needs one.
ETA:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/sep/05/uk-f...
Edited by Groat on Friday 30th October 18:26
Still trying to find a way around this. Is this viable, do you think? My buyer has a very large deposit (£180K) he pays this to me on completion and I obtain a legal charge for the balance.
I put £140K down on my new home and obtain an 'over 65' interest only mortgage for the balance. When the test results are back, my buyer gets his mortgage as intended and satisfies my legal charge (100K+) He could, if he chooses, make regular payments to me, which would reduce his liability to the charge.
As before, there isn't any cladding, so the results should be ok. The property is inspected annually for insurance purposes so I expect that if there were any glaring problems they would have been noticed by now.
I put £140K down on my new home and obtain an 'over 65' interest only mortgage for the balance. When the test results are back, my buyer gets his mortgage as intended and satisfies my legal charge (100K+) He could, if he chooses, make regular payments to me, which would reduce his liability to the charge.
As before, there isn't any cladding, so the results should be ok. The property is inspected annually for insurance purposes so I expect that if there were any glaring problems they would have been noticed by now.
catman said:
I had a reply today, stating that safety tests have been carried out, but they are still waiting for the results.
This means that they can't truthfully answer the questions yet. The lender has stated that they will not even look at any other documents/opinions.
This means that they can't truthfully answer the questions yet. The lender has stated that they will not even look at any other documents/opinions.
catman said:
As before, there isn't any cladding, so the results should be ok.
Colour me a bit confused, but what safety tests are they doing, and waiting for results back for, if there is categorically no cladding? If there is no cladding at all, then no safety tests are required and the managing agent can state so in reply to the lenders questions. If they are waiting for test results it suggests there is more to it than the agents simply stating that there is no cladding.
The whole situation is a clusterf
k though, there are many flats which simply cannot be sold at the moment because they do have cladding. It is utterly unbelievable that our incompetent housing minister hasn't sorted it, but finds time to sign off building projects for his mates, and cash for a neighboring town in return for that MP to give his town some cash too. But don't worry, we're all in this together. 
Definitely no cladding, I have that in writing. They are being told to inspect things like cavity wall insulation too, as an extra precaution I believe.
It's really frustrating. with the size of my buyer's deposit, I thought that it would be plain sailing.
I had already moved into my new house mentally. I never gave it a second thought.
It's really frustrating. with the size of my buyer's deposit, I thought that it would be plain sailing.
I had already moved into my new house mentally. I never gave it a second thought.
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