PRC Certificate

The problems that owners or intending purchasers on PRC housing face are often linked to mortgageability. The majority of Mortgage Lenders will not lend on these homes unless a structural repair has been carried out in accordance with an approved PRC licence supervised by an approved inspector.

Banks and Building Societies wish to see evidence of this in the form of a certificate of structural completion issued by the inspector, this document has become known as a PRC Certificate.

The problems generally fall into two categories the first being an unrepaired property where little or no work has been undertaken since construction or repaired houses were no PRC certificate is available.

The first of these is relatively straightforward to overcome dependant on the type of construction of the property. Repair systems exist for many of the PRC property types but some are more complicated and time consuming than others. Generally the work involves removing or making redundant the load bearing concrete elements of the property and rebuilding with traditional materials.

The process is disruptive and varies for each house type. With many it is possible for the occupants to remain in situe whilst the work is undertaken with others it is not. We are happy to offer advice in this respect and also to put people in touch with approved inspectors and reputable, experienced repair companies.

The second situation is a little more complicated to deal with as many different Engineers, Local Authorities and construction companies have come up with solutions to the PRC problem, some of these are acceptable to lenders others not.

Often works have been undertaken to rebuild properties but no documentation is available to prove this. Local Authorities often undertook repair programs but never issued PRC certificates or sometimes documentation has been lost over the years. This situation will regularly prevent existing owners or potential purchasers from raising mortgage finance.

This problem can often be overcome as long as the repair was carried out correctly. Again we are happy to provide advice in this respect.  Please contact us via the contact us page if you have any queries about repaired or unrepaired PRC houses.