Mortgage refused.

alantaylor

I'd applied for a re-mortgage with the Alliance and Leicester, we had a letter from them today saying...

"Thank you for applying for a mortgage with Alliance and Leicster.

We have considered your application carefully and unfortunately we are unable to offer you a mortgage at this time.

As part of our mortgage application process, we must ensure that the property provides suitable security within the guidelines of our lending criteria. However, should you decide to purchase an alternative property, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Based on the information we have, this is the correct decision. If you are confident you can provide additional information that would affect our decision, you can ask us to reconsider by writing to the above address.

We are sorry that we are unable to help you on this occasion but it we can be of any assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us."

When I phoned a&l to ask what it was worth, they said they didn't have a valuation and only said that it was "unsatisfactory" she said there's no other information? She said it was nothing to do with our credit score or anything, just the house. But it's a 3 year old 3 bed detached with a garage and a similar style house to ours is on the market for 150k which is what i'd valued it at, I wanted to remortgage for 72k.

Anyone know what criteria a&l use to see if a property is suitable?

There is a Pylon down the road and the power cables go over our road - could this be why?

Thanks
>:( and
Alan

payless

There is a Pylon down the road and the power cables go over our road - could this be why

possibly, again seems silly that they won't tell you,

( letter seems daft- alternative property - for a remtg !! )

Mortgageman

you may be able to ask them who the valuer was (if they paneled it out) who may have raised a specific issue - it does sound strange though

alantaylor

you may be able to ask them who the valuer was (if they paneled it out) who may have raised a specific issue - it does sound strange though

Yeah my Mrs has suggested that too because she used to work at Skipton Building Soc and said she used to know which companies did the valuations. I'll ring them again when I get home from work. I'll write back with what they say.

MarkyMarkD

Quite likely it's a staff valuer for a remortgage - and they won't necessarily have given it much of a looking at. Did they actually come and do the valuation? Why don't you already know who did it, if you let them in the house?

Anyway, more to the point, it's no good telling you that it's "unsatisfactory". There must be some sort of written report and they should tell you something more useful than that IMHO.

herbiesjp

Sounds very strange indeed - normally they give a specific reason i.e subsidence etc (or place a retention)

Get on their case, and the surveyor, and get an answer.

alantaylor

Did they actually come and do the valuation? Why don't you already know who did it, if you let them in the house?

I was originally asked for a phone number for the valuer to contact me and arange a time to come and have a look, but no one called me, and when I spoke to a&l today they said the valuer had been. So they must have just looked at the outside.

I've phoned them again tonight and asked them which company did the valuation but they said they didn't know (yeah right). And that the house is not a valid security for the loan. I can't think of anything else it could be apart from the pylon being near by.

I found this url http://www.revolt.co.uk/spotli2.html ... part way down it says "Channel 4 viewers will remember the recent documentary "The Chain" portraying the ups and downs of buying and selling houses. In one chilling scene a surveyor for a Building Society declined to even enter a property on the grounds that it was too close to a Pylon and that the Lender considered such properties a bad risk!."

I'm going to ring them again tomorrow and ask to speak to a manager because there's no way they "don't know!" who did the valuation!

Alan

dougk_2

Rather than ring I would go down to the nearest branch and speak face to face with the manager. Some banks/BS Managers also arrange home visits so get him round! In the least demand a full written explanation of the reason for not lending.

Additionally contact a local estate agent and get them to value the property for sale and ask them to write and conform the value (pretend you are selling!). Although this isn't a proper valuation it will be a figure that give or take a few thousand the bank/building society won't be able to argue with without justification.

Remember with hundreds of lenders out there (and probably some better rates too) you can always tell them to stick it and go elsewhere...I'd be inclined to do that if they are not helpful.

MarkyMarkD

I wouldn't go to a branch because they won't know the answer (because they don't need to).

Don't speak to the mortgage processing centre either.

I would suggest that you phone up the head office on 0116 201 1000 and ask for "valuation services".

It's incredibly strange for a 3 year old house not to be acceptable security for a loan which isn't even a high loan-to-value percentage.

brannyrhino_2

It used to Timber and Damp

Then it was Brick Ties that stopped mortgages

These can be fixed with appropriate works

Also certain building types are rejected by mortgage companies ie airey houses etc

The latest driver of mortgages is a Flood Check if you fail you dont get the mortgage as the house is

1. uninsurable or too expensive to insure
2. restricted resale on repossession.

The whole country has now been split into Red Amber and Green for Flooding.

If your Red no chance

If your amber some companies will with additional protection.

If your green no problem

This flooding issue is going to rock the housing market over the coming years.

alantaylor

I don't think i'm in a flooding area. The Leeds and Liverpool canal is near by, but not near my house.

It must be the pylon.