Single Skinned Walls Causing Problems with Nationwide BS

[malsmith]

HI,

I have recently has a survey done on my property which I am selling. It was build 1880, and has a small extension at the back where the kitchen and a small 4th Bedroom are housed. This dates back to over 80 years also, but planning hold no records after that due to a boundary change.
My problem is that one of the walls is single skinned, and the Nationwide Building Society refused to value the property. The wall itself stands about 4.5 metres, and there are no signs of movement, damp or condensation. To me this is ridiculolus, as I had an identical survey completed when I purchased the property, and no issue was made of this.
My questions is whether anyone has heard of Nationwide over turning a decision on a single skinned wall. If so I am happy to have a full structural report done on the wall, but if this is a policy that they will not change, then I and my buyer are wasting our time and money.

Many thanks,
Malcolm Smith

 

[Hannah]

I don't know whether Nationwide would reverse their decision, however we have our mortgage with them, our house was built in 1730 - and all walls are single skin! (Sounds like a bit of a contradiction on their part). They did not even request a structural survey on our Mortgage.

I would contest their decision - and get some advise from your solicitor, they may have seen something similar in the past.

 

[Johneds]

All lenders have different criteria at different times and for different financial products. They usually publish an underwriting and lending guide (for each financial product) which includes some information on types of properties they will lend on, those they will not and some guidance on common defects - such as single skin walling. It might be worth asking for a copy to see if single skin walls are mentioned.

I would also ask the valuer to justify their decision and maybe ask the lender for details of one or two other valuers on its panel and ask them what their view would be.

 

[MdB]

My front wall is 150mm thick and supports the first floor and the roof. There is 25mm of render on the inside and probably a similar amount on the outside making the blocks about 100mm thick.

This was raised on the survey as something that needed to be sorted in the next couple of years but as there was no signs of problems currently it wasn't particularly urgent. It got us a few quid off the price of the house but didn't give us any problems at all with the mortgage company (Abbey). We were lucky enough to only need a 20% mortgage though so this may have something to do with it.

 

[NT]

There are lots of 4" walls in the country behaving perfectly well - other than insulation wise, which is easy to fix. OTOH 4" walls do have a higher incidence of structural problems, hence the cherrypicking. It seems silly to turn away business based on this, perhaps theyre hoping you'll buy a nice 9" house with their mortgage.


NT

PS Yes I know, a 9" house is a bit small, but we cant all afford the luxuries