Pre-fab house - survey said brick built...

[VEIGHT]

A friend is really struggling to sell their pre-fab house.

When they bought it 10 years ago they paid for a survey and it came back saying it was a brick built house of normal construction.

They are trying to sell and all of the new surveys that have been carried out they say that just by looking at it they can tell it's prefab!

I dont think they would have bought it knowing it was pre-fab.

Would they have some sort of claim against the orignal company that did the survey?

[5potTurbo]

I don't know if there's a possibility to claim for negligence against the former surveyor, but there are prefab houses that have been skinned with red bricks, at least there are in my hometown.

Check with CAB or their own solicitor?

[Little Lofty]

Was the survey for mortgage purposes? If so I dont think the mortgage provider will be too thrilled that the surveyor has given them duff info, as they may well not have lent on a house of none standard construction. Which I assume is the problem your friends buyers are now facing.

[TA14]

Sounds like it could well be negligence and you could be in for a big claim, eg if you paid £100K and other properties nearby that were selling for £100K then are now selling for £175K now but you can only manage £125K now you'd be in for a £50K claim. Time to see a solicitor.

[aka_kerrly]

This is interesting!!

Generally speaking it's true that the mainstream mortgage lenders won't touch a original prefab building , but, there is one possibility which will help both buyer and seller.

There was a scheme in the 80s which was set up to help those with prefabs to upgrade them. If the property has been upgraded to meet the required standards then it can be classified as having "modern method of construction" which will mean that some lenders will indeed lend.

You need to find out the specific type of prefabrication as you can have properties which are steel framed with no-fines concrete which can also be acceptable to some lenders eg the Wimpy built post WW2 type.

There is a bit more information on the CML website - http://www.cml.org.uk/cml/policy/issues/107

[VEIGHT]

Thanks for the replies.

They have spoken to a law firm that said something along the lines of 'if they knew sometime over the past 10 years then they should have claimed then and may be too late to claim'

So if they drilled a wall or did any DIY that would have been a point where they might have known and should have claimed then.

They have had about 5 buyers all pull out after the survey and even paid some of the buyers survey costs as they are so keen to sell with no luck.

I think the legal firm want around £600 to discuss the claim but initally telling them they think it's too late to claim...

[Spare tyre]

can you pop a astreet view link up of the street?

[F1SERB]

Have you approached the company that carried out the initial survey
They will have professional insurance and will not want a stain on their reputation if they or one of their surveyors was in the wrong

[mk1fan]

10 years is way past the liability period of the [Chartered] Surveyor or the Practice.

I would suggest your friend does a small amount of research on lenders willing to lend on prefabs and whether the property has undergone works to bring up to date (as mentioned above). That way they can point buyers in a positive direction when the questions arise.

[Piglet]

I'm struggling with how someone could live in a house for 10 years and not know that it's a pre-fab construction? It sounds odd.

Is it a house or a bungalow? We have a Woolaway prefab bungalow and last time I researched lenders, it was almost impossible to mortgage prefab houses but bungalows were less of a problem.