Santander survey - significantly lower that expected property value

FTBcroydon wrote: »

Hi,
I was hoping to get some advice on the following situation. I am sorry it is a bit of a long post.

My partner and I are trying to buy our first home in East Croydon. We have a budget of 250k and a 15% deposit.

We recently found a two bed apartment on the market advertised at 250k. The flat is part of a newish (2009) complex of 40 flats. It is a bit unusual in that the developer decided to rent out the flats from 2009 until this year. As tenancies expired, the developer brought the flats to market and they have been selling very quickly.

We put in an offer on the flat at 240k. Everything was running fairly smoothly until this week. Santander sent a surveyor over to do an valuation on Monday. The result of this was that they valued the flat at 205k. We were frankly shocked.

Now we are really worried that we will have to pull out of the purchase. There is no way the developer would accept anywhere close to 205k. He sold the flat next door to ours for 240k earlier this month (the flat is almost identical).

Our broker has sent off an appeal to Santander and asked them to review the case on Monday. He has put a file together showing the sold prices of 2 beds sold this year in the property. All the values were between 230 and 300k. We are confident having seen numerous properties at an around the 250k mark that we are not paying over the market rate.

Has anyone had any experience of this kind of situation? Has anyone had a bank change there mind on a decision? Our broker seems confident that it is a mistake and he will make them see that with the evidence he has provided.

Thanks in advance for your help.