Cornish Unit housing...

[TiN]

Does anyone know anything about "Cornish Unit" housing? And/or any experiences with them?

There's one for sale close by, and it seems like a pretty good deal...but there's gotta be a reason for it being unmortgageable...

Cheers,
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TiN
dotgems.net

[Annabella]

Cornish Units were thrown up in the 1950s after the war as a quick, cheap form of housing. Basically they're made from pre-fabricated walls, big slabs of concrete, that are pinned together. My grandparents owned a pre-fab that they had converted to a brick build (the builders basically put the brick wall up alongside the pre-fabricated slabs and then knocked down the concrete bits. However, most of the Pre-fabs in Wolverhampton have since been knocked down because they were built with a limited life-span.

I believe there's a specialist mortgage company who deal with Cornish Units particularly. You'd need to check how competative their rates are, but if you had sufficient resources to convert a unit to traditional it would probably be a pretty good investment.
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[strawberry]

They are generally considered 'defective' hence difficult to mortgage (although possible in some circumstances). There are quite a few of these prefabricated concrete dwellings around the country known by a variety of different names however many of them have been replaced by other build types - the original buildings were only meant to last up to 40 years. Energy efficiency is not great and structural defects are not uncommon (the latter bringing about the problems with mortgages).
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[Annabella]

Tinny, it might be worth you contacting the Local Authority. I believe my grandparents had a subsidy towards converting their bungalow to traditional build, though that may have been because they had lived there for thirty (maybe more) years.
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[TiN]

Thanks peeps (and little peep)...

I've managed to do a little more digging (but have managed to lose all traces of the find after lunch... ), and it's looking bleak to be honest...i.e. they were built to last 20-40 years etc, and people generally rebuild them when they buy them.

Probably not worth it in this case (and also not affordable )

Oh well, the search goes on.

Cheers,
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TiN
dotgems.net

[Annabella]

Whilst there are reported defects, Nan and Grandad's was still standing in the 1990s with no problems whatsoever. The only reason they re-built it was because of the funding available at the time.

I've found the Cornish Unit specialist mortgage company:
clicky

Try contacting them...
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[TiN]

Thanks Annie...I've found a few companies offering mortgages for Cornish Units, but that's not really the point at this stage...I may be in the fortunate position where I won't need a mortgage, as such...
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TiN
dotgems.net