Cornwall is a beautiful place to live but for years the housing industry here has been plagued by properties that may have been built with defective concrete known as Mundic. 

As a mortgage adviser I see first hand the negative impacts this is having on the housing market in Cornwall and parts of Devon. While I fully appreciate the need for testing properties that may contain Mundic, a database that clearly outlines whether a property is at risk or not should now be the default position by valuers. 

If a person has previously paid for a Mundic test which shows it was clear, then that property is not at risk, yet after 6 years they will have to pay for the report to be reassigned which costs £382 with some local firms. 

Petrolab already have a database showing previous tests carried out, surely there must be a way that we can utilise this so that valuer can rely on this information and sign a property off rather than insisting a new report or reassigning an old report is required, costing on average £450.

I have seen first time buyers lose their first home because of this.

I have seen people unable to remortgage because they do not have the spare cash to pay these high costs, making them mortgage prisoners.

I have seen older generations unable to downsize to a more suitable property, freeing up bigger home for growing families.

All 3 of these examples have happened so far this month.

In a place where property is already complicated and expensive, let's make one small change to an online database to solve this localised issue.

Thank you.