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Homes that lack a bathroom or a kitchen are effectively considered uninhabitable and that status can make it significantly challenging to find a buyer. You’ll have to consider whether to spend money and effort on building these rooms – but if that’s an option then the good news is that there are still strategies available for attracting a competitive and speedy offer from a buyer.
- Why do some properties lack a kitchen or bathroom?
- Buyers may be wary of a home without a bathroom or kitchen
- Mortgage problems when selling a property without a kitchen or bathroom
- Should you add a kitchen or bathroom to your home before selling?
- Preparing to sell a house without a bathroom or kitchen
- Four ways to find a buyer for a home lacking a kitchen or bathroom
- Top queries about selling a property with no bathroom or kitchen
Why do some properties lack a kitchen or bathroom?
Although many freehold and leasehold houses, flats and other properties across the UK have fully functioning kitchens and bathrooms, some homes lack one or both of these rooms.
There are a number of explanations for why a property might not have either a kitchen or bathroom. For example, someone might have started to build a new house but they ran out of money to finish the construction and so the property is half-finished without the vital addition of a kitchen or bathroom. Or the homeowner could have launched a renovation of their kitchen or bathroom, effectively taking the space out of commission, and they can’t finish the project.
Other reasons can be more isolated situations such as fire or storm damage that has ruined the kitchen or bathroom to the point where the entire room needs rebuilding.
Regardless of the reasons for why your property doesn’t have a kitchen or bathroom, it will generally result in your home being deemed uninhabitable. There is no single legal definition that the UK government uses for determining when a property is uninhabitable, but there have been attempts in recent years to outline when a house or flat is given this status.
The UK Government Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 is a law enacted in March 2019 that says a property is uninhabitable if it’s in a poor condition, the building itself is unstable or otherwise unsafe, there are issues with the toilets or drains, there is no suitable space for either making food or being able to wash up, and various other problems.
Buyers may be wary of a home without a bathroom or kitchen
Homeowners want the basic necessities of being able to have a functioning kitchen and bathroom, otherwise they would have to endure a much lower standard of living. Not having running water or space to eat, drink and clean is an outcome buyers want to avoid.
The stigma of owning a property that does not have either a bathroom or a kitchen can be sufficient reason for why some potential buyers will completely lose interest in your home.
Property listings, which features photographs of a home’s interior and exterior, also describe the main features of a house or flat – including how many bathrooms it has. Unfortunately, if your home lacks a bathroom, kitchen, or both, you’ll typically find that the pool of prospective buyers is much smaller compared to a property that has these rooms in perfect condition.
In addition to the stigma, another concern that some buyers might have is the expense they would face if they bought the property and then invested in adding a kitchen or bathroom.
Mortgage problems when selling a property without a kitchen or bathroom
Beyond the stigma issues and related concerns that buyers might have about making an offer on a home without a kitchen or bathroom, mortgages can also be all be impossible to get, as the information website Online Mortgage Advisor explains.
If there’s a private buyer who is interested in your home but they would need a mortgage in order to pay for the purchase of your property, this may not be an option. That’s because almost all home loan providers will view a house or flat without a kitchen or bathroom as an uninhabitable property, and they may refuse a mortgage because of the difficulties in selling this type of home.
When someone takes out a mortgage, they commit to repaying it to the lender in monthly instalments. If a buyer falls behind on these repayments then they run the risk of defaulting on the mortgage. Should that happen, the lender can move to repossess the property with a view to putting it back up for sale, and using the proceeds to clear the outstanding debt owed to them. But this backstop solution may not be viable if the lender believes that it will be practically impossible to find a new buyer for a home due to the lack of kitchen or bathroom.
That reason alone can justify lenders turning down mortgage applications to buy your property, but this does not mean that you will never be able to get an offer on your home.
As this guide elaborates on in further detail later, alternative options exist such as contacting LDN Properties or another legitimate quick home buying company. These businesses are experts at making offers to buy properties that other buyers would consider to have dealbreaking problems like the lack of a bathroom or kitchen. It’s one solution that could hopefully result in you being able to get a swift and competitive offer for your flat or house.
Should you add a kitchen or bathroom to your home before selling?
Not having a kitchen or bathroom at your flat or house will make many buyers see it as a problem property, so one solution can be to invest effort, money and time in adding the missing room.
Before attempting to sell your property, you should consider whether you have the resources and willingness to pursue the addition of a bathroom or kitchen, or both, at your property. This will likely be a months-long process that could require far more than just installing fixtures and fittings, because it’s possible you may need to build an extension to add the rooms.
And if you are making such significant changes to the basic structure of your house, it’s very likely that you will trigger the need to obtain planning permission – which can be a lengthy, complicated and costly process that does not have guaranteed approval of the project.
Should you pursue the addition of a missing kitchen or bathroom and complete the work, this would naturally eliminate the problem that buyers have with your property. The addition should help increase the overall value of your home and the number of people interested in it.
But many homeowners will not have the available time or resources to launch an extensive building project to install a kitchen or bathroom, or both, before trying to find a buyer. If that’s your situation then do not worry that you will never be able to sell your property, because there are some viable options available that could result in you getting a fair and fast offer.
For example, you could sell your property without a bathroom or kitchen to a quick buyer like LDN Properties, as these companies are experts at purchasing problem homes – and later in this guide you’ll see the full details of all the benefits of selling your property this way.
Preparing to sell a house without a bathroom or kitchen
If you are unable to invest in adding a missing kitchen or bathroom to your property, you will need to accept that many buyers will view the home as uninhabitable, because it would not be reasonable for someone to live there, as the housing charity Shelter explains.
But that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to ever find a buyer – as the next section of this guide explains in further detail, there are options including reaching out to a quick home buying company like LDN Properties that specialises in making offers for problem properties.
What you should still do when getting ready to sell your home is making sure that it looks in the best possible condition, even though it doesn’t have a bathroom or kitchen.
For the inside of the home, this means tidying every room and removing as much clutter as you can, in order to make the rooms look as spacious and clean as possible. If you’ve got pets then make sure that you have cleaned up after them and keep them locked away during viewings. These simple steps can help to make buyers view your property as more valuable.
For the outside of the home, work that you can do to improve the perceived value of the property includes fixing small issues like replacing any broken glass or missing roof tiles, giving window ledges a fresh coat of paint, and mowing and weeding any garden or other green space. You want people coming to your home on viewings to have the best first impression, because they’ll look less favourably on a house or flat that looks poorly maintained.
Four ways to find a buyer for a home lacking a kitchen or bathroom
An important decision that you will need to make when trying to sell your home without a bathroom or kitchen is selecting the method you’ll use in order to find a buyer.
The four most common ways of selling a home are doing so without any help, selling to a quick buyer, using an estate agent or selling via an auction. Some of these methods have very strong advantages, for example a quick buyer can complete the process of buying your house or flat in just a handful of weeks. Other options for selling have some rather significant drawbacks, such as the commission you’ll have to pay if you sell via an estate agent or auctioneer.
To help you in selecting the best selling approach for your individual needs, first note down your main aims with the sale of your property, including your ideal selling price, the amount of time you’re prepared to wait to get a buyer, and whether you can accept paying any fees. Then compare these details against the specifics of the four selling strategies outlined below, and this should assist in showing you the one that is most likely to help you achieve your goals.
Selling without any help
This way of selling can be very stressful and take up a lot of your time every day, and therefore it’s only suggested for people who have experience with selling properties, as the HomeOwners Alliance notes. Alternatively, if you know a friend or family member who is skilled at selling homes and is willing to help you out for free, this could be one way to sell on your own.
The reason for the stress with this approach is that you’ll have to handle every step, starting with producing and advertising a listing for your home, then organising viewings to give people tours of the property, and finally fielding offers from buyers, ideally to completion. This will take many months, and you might even be waiting a full year before you’re able to sell.
There’s also the danger that a buyer could withdraw their offer and walk away from the sale, which they can do without penalty right up until contracts are exchanged. Should that occur, it would effectively restart the whole process of seeking a buyer for your flat or house.
Perhaps the only obvious benefit of this method of selling is that you won’t have to pay an auctioneer or estate agent any commission. But you can get this same advantage, along with a much speedier sale, by contacting a genuine quick buyer such as LDN Properties, as these companies provide a zero-commission, streamlined and no-stress way to sell a home.
Selling to a quick buyer
Quick buyers are companies like LDN Properties, founded more than 15 years ago, that have the financial ability to purchase homes immediately, without having to wait for many weeks or even months to initially get approved for a mortgage to cover the cost of the purchase.
Because of their ability to move swiftly, the typical timeline for these companies to buy a home is just a handful of weeks, and that covers the time needed for exchanging contracts and paying you the sale proceeds. It makes selling to a quick buyer by far the fastest of the four methods, and therefore a great choice if your top priority with selling is doing so as fast as possible.
The honest quick buyers will also never make you pay any commission, which will help to keep your selling expenses low and ensure that you receive the full sale proceeds. Compare that to selling through an auctioneer or estate agent, which will increase your costs with selling because they will charge you commission that will be deducted from the final sale proceeds.
Quick buyers are also experts at making fair and fast offers for almost any leasehold or freehold property, no matter its age, condition, location, shape, size or type – and that includes homes that do not have a kitchen or bathroom. For example, the long list of purchases that LDN Properties has made throughout the UK includes not only homes that don’t have one or both of those important rooms, but also British Iron and Steel Federation houses, properties with damp problems, flats with a high ground rent, houses with bad wiring, homes with septic tanks, and many other examples.
Using an estate agent
With an estate agent, you won’t have to put in much effort to sell your home, as they will take care of creating a listing, advertising it online, in local newspapers and in their office, scheduling and leading viewings and hearing offers from serious potential buyers.
Although this can reduce your stress with selling because of the minimal workload, there are a few notable drawbacks of using this method. First, the estate agent will charge you commission and this will add to your costs because it will be taken out of the sale proceeds right away.
It’s possible that some estate agents might set an even higher rate of commission, whereas others could be willing to negotiate a lower fee, so always ask about whether this is an option.
Second, selling through an estate agent can be a very slow process, and you should not be surprised if it takes many months, or even more than a year, before you secure a buyer. That’s not a great outcome for those owners who are trying to sell their properties as fast as feasible.
You might also find that some estate agents have no experience with selling a property that doesn’t have either a kitchen or a bathroom, and this implies that they could find it difficult to secure a buyer for your property. Always ask estate agents if they have sold this type of home in the past, and don’t use the services of a company that doesn’t have this selling track record.
Selling via an auction
Selling this way also won’t require much work on your part, because the auctioneer will handle the development and marketing of a listing for your home, along with hosting the auction and overseeing a successful auction through to exchange of contracts and paying you the proceeds.
But remember that auctioneers will charge commission for their work in selling your property. f you’re trying to lower your selling expenses then you might want to consider using another method.
It’s also not the speediest approach for selling a property, because you’ll be waiting many weeks or even months between when you enter your home for sale and when the auction occurs. And should your house or flat sell at the auction, the winning high bidder then usually has about a month to sign all of their required papers and complete their other tasks.
You can ask auctioneers if they would be willing to either reduce their fees or the deadline for the buyer to finish their mandatory steps, as some auction houses will be open to this.
Just as some estate agents may never have sold a home without a bathroom or kitchen, the same is true for certain auctioneers. They should be willing to provide you with historical data on how many homes of this type have successfully been sold at one of their auctions, and you shouldn’t attempt to sell using an auctioneer that has never sold this type of property.
When selling via an auction, you will have to select a reserve price, which reflects the lowest value at which you agree to sell your property. You might only get a single bid at this price, which is a legally binding agreement to sell the home that the buyer could sue to enforce if you try to later walk away from the sale. That makes it crucial to choose a reserve price which should hopefully still generate some profit for you, even after paying the auctioneer’s fees.
Top queries and answers about selling property without kitchen or bathroom
Homeowners considering selling quickly may have a few questions to be answered, ranging from selling a short lease flat through to selling a house on a private road. Here are some of the top questions we’re asked about selling property without a kitchen or bathroom :
Your top questions when selling property without a kitchen or bathroom
There are a few reasons why a home might not have a bathroom or kitchen and be considered uninhabitable. One explanation is that it’s a new property being constructed but the builder needs to sell the home before being able to construct the necessary rooms. Another reason can be if the kitchen or bathroom was destroyed due to a storm and needs to be rebuilt.
One main reason why buyers will be wary of making an offer on a home that doesn’t have a kitchen or bathroom is the stigma and difficulty of living in such a property, because it will result in a very poor quality of life for them as the next owner. Another reason is that the buyer might not be able to afford the cost of building a kitchen or bathroom if they purchased the home.
It can be unlikely, because a house or flat that lacks a bathroom or kitchen will typically be deemed as uninhabitable, and mortgage lenders rarely approve loans for buying such properties. That’s because the lender will be worried that it will be impossible to sell the property if they end up repossessing it because the borrower has defaulted on the mortgage.
Generally you will have to choose between selling your home through an auction, using the services of an estate agent, selling without any assistance, or selling to a quick home buying company like LDN Properties. There are pros and cons associated with each of these options, depending on your particular goals, such as how quickly you would like to sell your home.
Selling to a quick home buyer should only take a few short weeks, and this includes all the important steps such as exchanging contracts and paying you the proceeds. That’s much swifter than the average timeline for selling on your own, via an auction or using an estate agent, because these options can all take at least several months to complete.
If you sell your home without any third party assistance then you won’t pay any fees, and the same is true if you sell to a genuine no-fee quick buyer like LDN Properties. You will need to pay commission if you sell your home through an estate agent or auctioneer, and they will deduct their fees from the eventual sale proceeds, which will add to your expenses.
Ask individual companies if they are registered with The Property Ombudsman (TPO), which is an independent organisation that writes regulations, which all member companies must follow, that shield homeowners from fraud in the quick buying sector. If a company cannot prove to you that they belong to TPO then you should be careful if selling to them.
