Covid casualty

Shauna and Finbar O’Harte had their sights set on building themselves a family home to live in with their two daughters, aged five and two. Unfortunately, Covid threw a spanner in the works.

What is it?

It’s a new build design we spent a lot of time on and that we’re very proud of. It’s on family land in the countryside, up a long lane with a lovely elevated panoramic southern view.

What are the next steps?

We were always going to have difficulty getting a self-build mortgage because we’re building in the north yet both work in the south. Ulster Bank had given us verbal approval in early 2020 based on our income and based on that approval, we went ahead with planning.

When the time came to get the mortgage, Ulster Bank informed us it had since withdrawn services from the selfbuild mortgage side of things. Then the other banks refused us because the site is surrounded by “family land” thereby decreasing the saleability of the house if we defaulted.

We’re now in the process of buying a house and have gone sale agreed on a typical 1970s era 100sqm bungalow, which we will renovate for the time being.

Architect: HBK Architects in Co Tyrone, hbkarchitects.com