Safety latches on iron grates
Am trying to re-finance. Thought everything was “in the bag” but received a request from the mortgage specialist. -OPUS REQUIRED REPAIRS (SAFETY LATCHES ON WINDOW BARS) When I phoned to ask what this was, I was told that I would need safety latches on the iron grates which are on the windows of the ground…
Am trying to re-finance. Thought everything was “in the bag” but received a request from the mortgage specialist.
-OPUS REQUIRED REPAIRS (SAFETY LATCHES ON WINDOW BARS)
When I phoned to ask what this was, I was told that I would need safety latches on the iron grates which are on the windows of the ground floor of the house. Apparently, in case of fire, one would need to be able to climb out the window on the ground floor.
I feel like I am partaking in a really bad computer game (games which I never play!) or am on a very moronic version of the “Amazing Race”. Anyone experienced this hurdle?
K
A lot of lenders will not budge on this issue I have battled them time and time again. There are a small handful of lenders that will do the loan as is with the bars in place. These lenders are also Fannie Mae banks with the same rates as Wells Fargo.
You can either remove them for the appraiser and re-install after he leaves, remove completely, or install the safety releases.
When I pre-qualify my clients that have Brooklyn brownstones this is one of my questions that I now ask as it caused problems in the past for a few clients. Some elected to remove the bars while other installed the releases. Technically you need to have 2 forms of egress from each bedroom so you only need to have one window that releases in each bedroom. The city does not mandate this in the fire code but the lenders impose it
Adam Dahill
adahill@wcslending.com
I am a loan officer at Wells Fargo and I am having the same issues from our underwriters. I need to reference the actual fire or safety codes to show underwriting the error of their ways. If I can reference these codes, I will be able to stop them from any future harassment. Please feel free to contact me by email at joel.weingarten@wellsfargo.com. Thank you.
I made the point that they were on the ground floor which had to doors, back and front, and they were not a fire hazard. I believe I searched on this site and sent them codes, etc. from someone who had had the same problem.
K
HurricaneKate, we are having the same issue with Wells Fargo. They are requesting a safety release latch on the security bars and then a final inspection after its installed. How did you get around that? I don’t understand how this is fire hazard when we have a front door and back door which is 2 source of exits. Please advise thanks.
Update
This was resolved. No need to remove iron gates for windows on ground floor or install safety latches. Am closing today at 3pm.
K
We had the same problem with our refinance, with Citi. I’m afraid the only way around it was to have the iron bars removed. cost us $125. The irony is that when the guy came to remove the bars, he said, “Yeah, I’ve been doing a lot of these lately. I come and cut the bars off, and then three days later I come back and put ’em back on.” The problem is that in order to have safety latches, you need to essentially order an entirely new set of bars. So in either case you’re going to have to have the existing bars removed. It was a pain in the a**, but now that we’re closed and we have our new rate it was totally worth it.
thanks Dave – let me see if I can find it.
K
This same issue was brought up here by someone else seeking a mortgage about 2-3 weeks ago