Advice Needed - Survey says house is Unmortgageable

petermatheson1

Hi All,

I recently had a survey done on a house I've offered on.

The survey came back as the Kitchen being of sub-standard build and Unmortgageable - Requiring a complete Knock-Down & ReConstruction.

The sellers tell me they had the same Kitchen when they moved in 5 years ago and had a survey done with no problems.
The Estate Agents know the Name of the person who did my survey Very well, and have had problems with many surveys that person has completed for other clients in that they have marked very major, unmortgageable comments on items which other surveyors would allow.

I understand the risks and appreciate why the survey was completed, and I would be happy to look at rebuilding the kitchen in years time.
I doubt the Seller is going to pay for a complete structure rebuild (£15k+) of their kitchen, and I assume will let the property go back on the market and hope the next buyers survey will go through OK. The surveyor also valued the house at around £15k under what it has been on the market for, and say that with a fixed kitchen, it will be worth its asking price.

Can I ask for a second opinion on the Survey?
Is there a way I can still proceed with my Mortgage through Halifax somehow?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give!

pawpurrs

You can ask the halifax, but I think if you want to go ahead regardless, you may have to take the risk of applying to another mortgage lender, who uses a different surveyor, and just have a mortgage valuation this time.

hoggums

Walk away or reduce your offer by the amount you'd need to spend putting it right.

You would be mad to continue as is.

petermatheson1

My problem is that I'm questioning the accuracy of the survey.

The current owners bought 5 years ago with the exact same Kitchen, and it wasn't raised as an issue on their survey.

I don't want to look into rebuilding the entire kitchen if it doesn't need it... Can I get a second opinion?

Welshwoofs

I had the exact same thing when I bought my current property, the surveyor came back saying the single story, flat roofed extension the kitchen is housed in was sub-standard and valued the house £17k below offer price because of that. The kitchen was around 15yrs old and the house had been sold twice in that time with no problems raised on survey. I was also with Halifax.

I got round a builder and my brother (architect) who both thought that the only thing they'd look to do was replace the roofing felt stuff within the next few years, but that the kitchen itself was solid. I paid for another, more comprehensive survey which also didn't raise a problem and Halifax were happy to proceed on that basis and cast aside the first survey.

It's obviously possible that surveyors make mistakes - a surveyor who came to look at a previous house I was selling stated that the textured ceilings would need to be tested for asbestos....in fact it was B&Q textured paint that was bought the year before (the white stuff with what feels like sand in). He also said the roof needed replacing...not on the basis there was anything wrong with it, but because it was the original roof and over half the other houses in the street had had theirs replaced. A roofer the buyer got round said there was !!!!!!-all wrong with it, was solid and there wasn't even a tile out of place.

I think some of these surveyors raise the worst case scenario on anything they see

RobertoMoir

I suppose you could get another survey done, it's your money.

But have you considered that this surveyor is right and the one from 5 years ago was wrong (or that the problems with the kitchen have come to a head during those 5 years)?

As for the estate agent saying they've had problems with that surveyor, the EA's job is to shift houses, and anything that stops them shifting houses is therefore a problem for the EA. That doesn't mean the surveyor is wrong, just that they highlight faults that in their professional opinion greatly affect the value and viability of the property.

I'm not saying the surveyor is right either, just that the EA's definition of a problem surveyor may not be the same as yours.

petermatheson1

Thank you Welshwoofs,

Can I ask, when you paid for a more comprehensive survey was that through Halifax, or through another company?

I think I might get a builders second opinion on the structure and take it from there - It sounds like your survey was done by the same guy who did mine!

Welshwoofs

petermatheson1 wrote: »

Thank you Welshwoofs,

Can I ask, when you paid for a more comprehensive survey was that through Halifax, or through another company?

I think I might get a builders second opinion on the structure and take it from there - It sounds like your survey was done by the same guy who did mine!

The Halifax survey was the bog-standard home-buyers thing. I went to a surveyors privately and paid for a full survey (from memory I think that was around the £600 mark) which I then passed on to Halifax and after a few conversations they went with that one. My contact at Halifax told me that they sent the second survey + the builders/architect opinion to the first surveyor and asked why he came to such a conclusion..and off the back of that he altered his valuation upwards!

clutton_2

i had a survey done by the halifax for a remortgage and they simply did a "drive by" valuation .... that was about 6 years ago - and lending/surveying criteria have changed dramatically since then

petermatheson1

Thanks for the advice all.

I'm now in direct contact with the seller and we're arranging for a Builder friend of mine to take a look at the build of the Kitchen hopefully this weekend.

Will see what he comes back with !

petermatheson1

Builder has had a look and confirmed the Kitchen will need to be re-built to meet todays building standards.

The seller is willing to lower the price by around £15k so I could sort the Kitchen out myself.
How would this work? As Obviously I don't have £15k in cash to fix the Kitchen, but Halifax would have been happy with a mortgage including that initial £15k? Could they mortgage the full amount and give me the £15k to repair the kitchen?