I have a £44.0000 mortgage on my home, however a major defect has come to light.The fault lies with the construction of the support beams.I have been told that they will all have to be replaced and have received a figure of £23.0000 to complet the repairs. I have contacted the mortgage company and have informed them of the defects, however they do not respond to either mail or phone calls. The house was inspected by their nomonated asseser on its completion. [A] Do I have to meet the total repair bills. [B] Is the mortgage company responsilble for the repairs bill.

I belive that because I was not responsible for the defects/ and until the mortgage is paid off I,m not the owner then I should have to pay any of the repairs bills. Or continue to pay the any of mortgage until the repairs have been completed and I move back into the house.

M L Davis

-- Michael LLoyd Davis (davislloyd@hotmail.com), July 07, 2002

Answers

If your house is of recent construction then you would normally have an NHBC guarantee in place for the first 10 years of it's life which would cover construction faults. You may also be able to bring an action in tort against the builder / architect / structural engineer / local authority building control who all share some reponsibility for design and/ or construction faults. Lenders usually only carry out a valuation survey for the purpose of reassuring themselves about the value of the property as security against the mortgage loan, and if you read your mortgage conditions carefully (or the valuation survey small print) you will most likely discover disclaimer clauses. It was your responsibility as a purchaser to instruct a surveyor to carry out the appropriate pre purchase survey and if you did so then you may have legal recourse against said surveyor if the defect is one which was visible in some form or another at the time of the inspection. Again, these surveys usually have disclaimers to cover inaccessible parts of the building such as sub-floors, foundations etc., so even with a survey you may still have to chase the designers/ builders for the cost of repairs. The ownership of a mortgaged property rests with the mortgagor ie you not the lender. The lender holds the title deeds but this is as a surety not as owner. The lender has no responsibility for repair costs, although may take action against a mortgagor who fails to carry out essential repairs since this will damage the value of the property to the lenders disadvantage. I realise that you are in a difficult situation but direct your anger at the real culprits.

-- Gordon Bennet (arsenewhinger@hotmail.com), July 08, 2002.

The big question to my mind is how old is the property?

If it's relatively new then you should have redress against the builder or NHBC, like the last post mentioned.

If its an old property and a defect has only just been discovered, claim off your buildings insurance, thats what it's for! It's also why mortgagees insist you have it.

John

-- John (jbishop@bigwig.net), July 31, 2002.