Mid Terrace to End Terrace Issues

[punkiller1981]

HI
i own an end terrace property which i purchased around 11 years ago when very young and naive. The property when i purchased it was an end terrace however at some point would have been a mid terrace. the adjoining properties have been knocked down and now the is a 2-3 meter gap to the neighbouring house. The problem is that what has now become the outside wall appears to be only single brick thickness. I had my house up for sale and sold within a day for 8 grand over asking price only for the the buyer to have to withdraw due to the house being unmortgable. I then old to a cash buyer who then pulled out due to the issue with this wall. Can anybody advise how i can get this wall sorted to the point of being sellable?

I realise the obvious thing to say is why did i buy the house in the first place when this issue was raised on my survey. well i asked a few people that i though knew more than i did and they said don't worry about it and being young and naive as i said i went along with it.

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JohnD]

you mean a 9-inch wall? That's quite typical in older houses.

Is the wall the property boundary, or do you own any land (even a few inches) to the side of your house?

Is it the EPC that prevents people buying your house, or something else? Such as structural stability? I have often seen houses after part of a terrace has been demolished where the exposed wall is buttressed and rendered, and retains the old chimneybreasts.

 

[punkiller1981]

HI John
thanks for your response

the boundary is a funny one because i believe i only own up to the wall and the council own the land and house next to it, however somebody had started to build a second brick wall from the edge of the front wall and went about 7ft high and about 3/4 of the way back and then stopped. i am not sure if it is buttressed and the is no chimney breast on that side of the house but the wall is rendered.

also i had a damp survey done and the surveyor asked me why i had bothered to get damp proofing done to that wall as the was no sign at all of any damp ever being present. not sure if that is relevant to anything but i thought i would mention it.


i have added a picture of the offending wall as well to help visulisation

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Nah, think he means a half brick (as in single skin) on the gable end. The front half of the House of Pain (my little retirement project ) has a similar issue- the bits between chimney breast and original back and front walls are half brick, confused the SE when he was measuring up for some steel to go in. In my circs he said it's been standing for 200 years, insulate it inside and you'll be fine.

Rectification- don't honestly know. Not sure how feasible it would be to build another wall 100mm away from the existing wall, tie the 2 together, redo the verge on the roof, sort the returns front and back, deal with any drainage running alongside the existing wall. Didn't realise it was a mortgage condition (House of Pain was a cash job). I'll be watching with interest.....

Might be worth trying one of these 'we'll buy your house for cash right now etc etc' merchants if you get really stuck. Or maybe (this one is slim I know but might be worth it) commission your own full structural survey and see what they have to say about it. Any potential purchaser wouldn't be able to rely on your survey BUT they can read it and be aware that if they commission their own full survey they should get the same report and thus the same protection against (the very low odds of) the thing suddenly falling to bits after 100+ years

 

[^woody^]

Externally insulate and then brick clad it, which might be more appealing than render. I would leave the front and back though as otherwise you will lose the features

 

[punkiller1981]

Thanks Woody the front and back are double brick anyway its just the side

 

[big-all]

just a though
the wall would be the boundary so insulation and extra bricks on next doors land ???

 

[punkiller1981]

That is a slight issue but it is council owned land so i don't think it would be an issue especially if i tell them not doing it means the wall might collapse onto the house next door putting their tenants at risk

 

[vinn]

Did the recent buyers have surveys done, & did any survey say precisely what the difficulty was?

I notice that you are on a hillside/slope.
Do you know why the adjoining house was demolished?
Is there any cracking on that gable - inside or outside?

FWIW: I would be cautious about claiming to anyone, esp the council, that your gable wall is at risk of collapsing.

 

[Doggit]

As the front and rear walls are are double skinned, and the side wall has been started at the bottom half, what's stopping you continuing up the rest of the side wall. There are various helical wall ties that can be used to tie the second skin into the wall.

 

[catlad]

Why not just continue the wall up that has already been started adding
insulation if possible. You say there is a 2-3m gap which i don't
understand as that isn't big enough for a house?

 

[JohnD]

Did we get an answer?

Is it the EPC that prevents people buying your house, or something else? Such as structural stability?

 

[punkiller1981]

Hi
Sorry I haven't responded back to the above question. The problem we have had with people buying the house is due to people not being able to get a mortgage on it.

I have also just found out that I own 9 inches of land running down the side of the house. The Neighbouring house is council owned so I'm hoping the council would grant access to allow the work to be done to add the wall. Does anyone know what the council view would be or would it be a question of agreeing it with the neighbour who rents it.

 

[^woody^]

Typically, a tenant has more rights and control regarding access than a landlord.

 

[Nige F]

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