Concrete Victorian Terrace

[andyttg]

Hi all, new here and hoping for some wisdom! My partner and I had our offer accepted on a 1880s/1890s terraced house in North London last week and we've found out that it is of "non-standard construction", more specifically it seems to be an early form of shuttered concrete construction. I had no idea terraced housing was made in this way back then, but the evidence is there. Google isn't giving me too much help either, does anyone have any experience of this type of home?

We will get a Level 3 survey, and we have the survey of the current owners carried out in 2021, but beyond this, are there any specific things we should look out for/ask about? My best mate is a chartered surveyor and has suggested we shouldn't buy it, which was hard to hear. The house is part of a terrace of 21 such houses, none of which have fallen down and all of which have people living in them, hopefully happily.

Basically, how worried should we be? Thanks in advance!

Andy

 

[hughseh]

Take it you'll need a mortgage? Probably won't get one when the mortgage valuation comes back, assuming the surveyor picks it up.

It will be hard to sell on even if you do complete the purchase. I'm assuming it's cheaper than other houses in the area?

 

[stuart45]

There's loads of similar houses in Brighton built in Bungaroosh, which is probably inferior and these are still mortgageable.

 

[ThornhillMike]

I can't give an opinion on mortgage impact as we bought our Scottish cottage without one, but that was built in shuttered concrete (using aggregate off the adjoining beach) around the same time as yours. Construction wise it is absolutely solid (hint; buy a SDS hammer drill for starters!) but the biggest downside we've found is damp. Assuming yours has no DPC like ours, the 'concrete' (basically stones off the beach and sand) is like a sponge, so read up on all the 'breathability' posts elsewhere on here. That said North London is not Kintyre so may not suffer the rain we get down the West Coast...

 

[ORN]

Hey all, we are in a similar situation in Greenwich! I’d love to know what happened as we are completely stuck on how to even get information!

To add what is more confusing is the lender will lend! Despite seeing the RICs survey

 

[butnot]

@ORN - we're also looking at a place in Greenwich. Did you get any more information? What did your RICs survey say? Do you know what the risks are of having a house of such construction?

Thanks in advance.