Self-Build and Non-Standard Property Remortgages

The site and how it was carved out

Most self-build titles begin with a transfer of a site from parents or relatives. The remortgage investigation looks at that transfer: was the site properly mapped and registered with its own folio; did the transfer carry the easements the house needs; and were any conditions attached — such as rights of residence in favour of the transferors, or clawback-style covenants — that remain on the folio and must be explained to or released for the new lender.

Where the site transfer was done informally or the mapping never matched the fence lines, corrective deeds and Tailte Éireann mapping applications fix it — solvable, but they add weeks, so surface it early.

Access, wells and wastewater

A lender wants the house to work as a standalone security: legal access from the public road, a water supply it is entitled to, and somewhere lawful for wastewater to go. On one-off houses that means checking the right of way over the shared lane is registered, the well or group water scheme connection is documented, and the septic tank or treatment system — including any percolation area on neighbouring land — is covered by an easement and, where applicable, registered under the domestic wastewater registration system.

Informal family understandings that worked for decades become gaps on a folio. Deeds of easement executed by the relevant family members are the standard cure, and they are far easier to obtain while relationships are good — another argument for doing this sooner rather than later.

Planning conditions and occupancy clauses

Rural planning permissions frequently carry conditions with long tails: occupancy conditions tying the house to the applicant or persons meeting local-need criteria for a period of years, contribution conditions, and landscaping or sightline requirements. The remortgage review checks which conditions have been satisfied, which have expired by their own terms, and which still bind — because the certificate of title must deal with them, and some lenders ask pointed questions about live occupancy clauses.

Compliance certificates from the supervising engineer or architect — with the planning permission and with building regulations — are the core paperwork. If the originals are lost, or the house was built in stages with different supervisors, fresh opinions based on inspection now are the practical answer.

Staged-payment history and finishing funds

Self-build mortgages draw down in stages against certified progress, and the paper from that era — stage certificates, final compliance, retention of the last tranche — occasionally has loose ends that surface on refinance, such as a final stage never drawn or a completion certificate never issued. Tidying these is part of the remortgage.

Where the point of the refinance is to fund completion of an unfinished build or a substantial extension, expect the new loan itself to be staged, with the lender releasing funds against your engineer's certificates. The legal completion happens once; the funds then flow per the schedule in the offer.

Non-standard construction and protected structures

Lender policies vary on non-standard construction methods and on protected structures, where alteration works need special consents and the compliance question is more nuanced. These properties refinance regularly, but the choice of lender matters more, and the professional certificates need to address the property as it actually is. Disclose the property's nature at application stage — the wrong lender discovered late costs months.

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

• Title issues
• Equity release for works
• The remortgage process