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Q&As
Mortgage Application requiring a Supervising Consultant
In brief, we're working through the details of our self-build with our potential mortgage lender Halifax - we have informed them that we are managing the build ourselves using subcontractors but our mortgage advisor has sent a form requiring the signature of a Supervising Consultant or Builder.
We do have a building consultant who has prepared our plans and will help us through planning, but he is technically retired and can't sign this form. I've spoken to another architect but he has been advised not to either, then NHBC this morning who say the lender should be satisfied with their warranty. Anyone else dealt with this?
One Answer
Thank you for your question regarding Supervising Consultants. I would advise that all lenders require self-builds to be supervised, and signed off at key milestones by a Professional Consultant.
Most lenders will recognise either what they describe as a “Professional Consultant” as an Architect or similar (I have given some other examples below) or via the Building Inspectors that Warranty Providers contract with to carry out the inspections.
If going down the route of an Architect or other acceptable professional, rather than a Warranty then the Lender will require them to be a member of a professional body (ie. if an Architect then they must be registered with ARB), have the relevant qualifications and have Professional Indemnity Insurance in place. It will be these factors that inhibit your building consultant from certifying your build.
Unfortunately I am unsure as to why the other Architect has said that he has been advised not to sign the form as it’s standard practice for lenders when lending on a self-build project and certainly in our experience a lot of self-builders do use an architect to supervise their projects.
Below is a common list of acceptable Professional Consultants, but it is important to check with your lender/broker that they are accepted by the specific lender you are planning to go with as each lender does have their own policy relating to what / who is acceptable.
– Rachel Pyne, BuildStore