When was my house built?

When looking into buying a new home one must consider many factors, and one of them includes the year the house was built.

Find out everything you need to know about how to find out what year your house was built in and what legislation says about renovating it.

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How to find out when my house was built?

There are various ways to finding out how old your house is.

HM Land Registry – The HM Land Registry do not keep track of property built on land but of when the land was sold. If you buy your house directly from the developer who built on the land, you can contact the HM Land Registry and they can track the transfers or leases made by such developer which will help you calculate your house’s age.

Ask you seller – When a sale is being made, the seller must fill out a ‘Seller’s property information form’, which may include the house’s age.

Your local authority may have records of when the planning permision was granted.

When having a mortgage, the survey might include how old your house is.

If you have an older house, you might want to have a look at properties listed in the 1862 Act register, at census returns, local records or whether it is maybe listed in any historic records.

Do houses deteriorate in value?

Yes, they do.

These are the three main reasons why a house might decrease in value.

An increase in mortgage rates – If mortgage rates increase, then potential buyers cannot afford to pay a great amount of money when buying a house, as they will be paying a lot of money during the life of the loan, hence a house with a higher mortgage rent, tends to cost less.

Natural disasters – Tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, any of this sort. Firstly, one would need to make sure to have an insurance which will cover such damage, especially when located in an area which is more likely to be hit by weather conditions more than others. This will impact the price of the property, as potential buyers will not be willing to pay a lot for a house which will require them to upkeep many more expenses because of such issue.

Foreclosure – This is when a house is prepared to be sold for an amount of money, but the sale falls through after the buyer is not able to pay such money. The seller is then forced to sell the house for a less amount of money. Potential buyers tend not to look at an area in which foreclosures are more likely to happen, as it can affect their insurance and future property value.

Am I allowed to renovate an old house?

You can but first you’ll need Planning Permission.

For older houses, you may need some more permissions.

Before submitting any paperwork, try to finish all permission forms to submit them at once, as it would help the local planning authority to consider all factors collectively and make it easier to grant you permission or not.

If you have a listed building, you will need Listen Building Consent for any adjustments or demolition made. This is mostly because any alterations will impact its architecture and if any, historic interest.

It is suggested to first talk it over with your local planning authority to determine what permissions would be needed and before signing off on the deal and paying any money for your house, make sure that you are most likely to get these permissions granted.

Rememeber that renovating an old house can be costly as some replacements might be needed and adjustments to lighting and plumbing might need to be made.

Also, most houses include materials such as lead or asbestos which can be of danger. Having them professionaly removed can be expensive.