[mariegold]

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping one or two people on this forum might have a property with a bore hole? We are looking at buying a smallholding in Mid Wales (our first proper smallholding!), it has a two bed barn conversion on 9 acres of very steep sloping land (perfect for our goat empire).

The trouble is it isnt on mains water but has a bore hole. Great in theory but nearly all mortgage lenders we speak to say they aren't keen on lending on properties with bore holes!?

Has anyone else had this issue?

We really want to go for the house but we are worried we will have problems later on should we wish to re-sell it. Its been on the market for nearly 2 years and never had any offers!

[clydesdaleclopper]

Ours has a bore hole and no mortgage company even mentioned it. My solicitors insisted on a water quality check but that was all.

[GribinIsaf]

We are in mid-Wales with a bore hole - as far as I can tell most properties outside villages round here have bore holes or wells so it can't be so one would have thought mortgage lenders would be used to it.

[mariegold]

Thanks both. Its ok for us as we are incredibly lucky enough to not need a mortgage but we have been worried about re-selling the property if it doesn't work out for some reason.
There doesn't seem to be much information on the internet about bore holes and mortgages. Maybe we are worrying over nothing....

[Lesley Silvester]

I'd be inclined to go for it and worry about reselling if and when you do.

[suziequeue]

Go for it. We are also in mid-Wales and have a private water supply. Personally I think it is a plus point. The bad press that water companies get these days, the expense if you are needing to pay to water livestock, fruit, veg, poly tunnel etc.......


Ugh - that would be really restrictive.


We didn't have any issues about the water supply at all with the mortgage company when we bought ours.

[mariegold]

Hi Suziequeue, Do you mind me asking when you bought your place? Was it before the 2008 crash? Apparently its since that date the mortgage companies have gone all funny over bore holes.

[suziequeue]

2009

[farmershort]

Hi Suziequeue, Do you mind me asking when you bought your place? Was it before the 2008 crash? Apparently its since that date the mortgage companies have gone all funny over bore holes.

Who is it who's telling you this? It's news to me. Our mortgage broker was very very very risk averse, but the borehole question didn't come up at all.

[Hellybee]

If its your dream buy I wouldn't let that stop you, you may regret it in time.      I wish we had a borehole x

[suziequeue]

My ultimate ambition is to get completely off grid and then use that as a positive selling point when it comes to selling on. We are off for everything except electricity but I hope to get less reliant on other fossil fuels too in the future.

Mind you. - I do think that I am a bit of a closet prepper........

[mariegold]

It is our dream! But sadly not my mother in laws! She likes us living down the road so is finding all sorts of reasons for us not to buy....

I too would love to live off grid and the bore hole is a big plus point for me. But the house has been on the market for 2 years and it seemed 'reasonable' that the bore hole was the sticking point for some people.... mmmm maybe its the fact that the land is all on a very steep slope and its 6 miles to the nearest towns (Bishops Castle and Montgomery).

Oh well I've told the goats we are moving there now so mother in law will have to like it or lump it 

[suziequeue]

But the house has been on the market for 2 years and it seemed 'reasonable' that the bore hole was the sticking point for some people.

In my experience 2 years is not unusual for mid-Wales. Property moves VERY slowly where we are (Llandinam/Newtown) - bore hole or no

[in the hills]

We live about 6 miles from Monty, in the hills between Welshpool and Newtown.

'EVERYTHING' moves slowly around here .... house sales too in all likelihood.   

We are on mains but bore holes are very usual around here ..... never heard of it causing problems with sales though.


It is a beautiful place to live .... go for it !!!!!!!!!    Sheep don't mind steep slopes either. 

[Mickey]

Whilst looking in Scotland we came across a few with bore-holes for their water supply.  We did quite a bit of research and decided they were a plus point if nothing else.  The issues we found were a need to have the water quality tested, ensure filters were maintained, water pumps and a huge limit on the amount of water that could be taken out without incurring problems.  All in all I wouldn't be worried but would ensure that as already suggested, you get the quality of the water tested.