Masonry outer leaf

[Roger H]

I am selling a house & the buyer cannot get a mortgage as the surveyors have said part oh the house does not have a masonry outer leaf.
The house was architect designed & built 40 years ago. It is built on a concrete raft with steel frame.
What does this phrase mean & what will I have to do in order to make the house ‘sellable’?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

What's the wall construction? Steel frame + what? Has the buyer approached any other lenders?

 

[jj4091]

Find someone with cash. And don't ask much for it. It sounds like a pre-fab garage.

 

[robinbanks]

How keen are you to retain the interest of this seller?

 

[Roger H]

To the best of my knowledge it’s a steel & wood frame& he has asked 2 lenders.
Would I have to put in another wall or outer skin to the house.

 

[jj4091]

The steel framed houses in our area were all built post war by the council and consited of an inner steel frame infilled with ash blocks and an outer brick skin. When Mrs M started forcing councils to sell them off tenants could not get mortgages because it was discovered during a survey that the steel frames were corroding away at the base of each leg. The only solution was to break large holes into the outer skin,remove all the corroded metal and weld or bolt new legs in place and the reinstate the brick work. Yours sounds similar but different and I wonder what the steel frame has been infilled with. Was nothing mentioned on the survey when you bought the house or is it one you have inherited.

 

[Roger H]

Inherited from my brother
The steel frames are 6 x 3 & 9 x 4 RSJs & 88mm sq columns of RHS Grade 43 steel

 

[cdbe]

Is it detached/interesting etc? Maybe get some plans to redevelop the plot.

 

[Deluks]

Have any specific issues been raised? Do you actually have any problems with the structure?

 

[jj4091]

Have any specific issues been raised? Do you actually have any problems with the structure?

It does not seem to matter in our area if there are problems or not and surveyors just notify the lender that it is a steel frame building. Unless you can prove that the remedial work has been done no one will give a mortgage on steel frame homes around here.

 

[jj4091]

Inherited from my brother
The steel frames are 6 x 3 & 9 x 4 RSJs & 88mm sq columns of RHS Grade 43 steel

What is the infill between columns. Can you easily get access to the steel columns.Perhaps if you got your own structural engineers report on the building and it was satisfactory then it might make it easier to borrow against. I think someone like that who could do a site visit might be the best person to advise you anyway.

 

[robinbanks]

And yet commercial lenders lend on steel framed buildings all the time..

 

[jj4091]

And yet commercial lenders lend on steel framed buildings all the time..

No idea about that, just local housing I'm afraid. When the problem first raised it's head a few years ago there was hell on with former tenants threatening to sue the council for selling property that was not fit for purpose. I seem to remember that they had to come up with a scheme that they paid part of the costs if they arranged the remedial work to be done by them. Those that could not afford the surplus costs were unable to sell there homes at a later date until they had the remedial work done. As it turned out most of them got their own bulders to do it cheaper than the excess the council were asking for.

 

[Roger H]

It is a private detached 4 bed house with no issues such as cracks. I do have original pictures of the house being built in the 80s .
I am looking for a specialist lender & will probably get a full structural survey and ask the surveyor’s advice on what needs to be done to make the house ‘sellable’