How to complain

Jewel_2

Hello

We had sold our house, stc, for £300,000. It is an old property and the buyers carried out a full structural survey. Today, shocker, it has come back with a valuation of £270,000 (in line with the news reports that mortgage valuers are just knocking off 10%).

Our estate agents have advised us that there is room for negotiation with the valuers, if the estate agents can prove that the house is worth £300,000, so they are coming to see us tomorrow.

The whole thing is a bit of a joke, because all the houses around us are individual, and there's not much to compare with, and the houses the valuer has compared with are in an area local to us but not as prosperous - and actually not comparable! We are not budging from our figure because we can't afford it, however, the buyers mortgage is obviously based on the valuation.

My real concern is that someone has 'willy nilly' come into our house and knocked £30,000 off based on very little. For too long valuers have been seen as 'Gods', so how do I go about getting proof of how they've reached their findings, and who do I complain to - the RICS?

PS - I'm not precious about my house, I'm quite happy to stay here, especially if it's only worth that much, but I am really sceptical about the whole thing.

slummymummyof3

Do you know if the surveyor found any problems with your house?

Jewel_2

I don't (think) there were any major problems, apparently the surveyor had to have a long hard think about it! I am sure there is some stuff as the property is old, but structurally I think it is sound, and we have certificates for all the other things like damp proofing etc. That could be the case, but from what I have heard, nothing untoward. If that is the issue, then fair enough, but we knocked £30,000 off the original asking price anyway. I mean, £60,000 reduction in total, unless there is a crocodile living in the foundations ...

Mr_Matey

A property valuation is an opinion of what the property is worth.

You may be able to convince the valuer that their opinion is wrong, you may not. At least they're giving you the chance to prove your case.

Either way I don't know if it's something you can really complain about... although you can always get another valuation.

Oh and your place isn't sold until you exchange, after which who cares what a valuation says?

Jewel_2

Mr_Matey wrote: »

A property valuation is an opinion of what the property is worth.

You may be able to convince the valuer that their opinion is wrong, you may not. At least they're giving you the chance to prove your case.

Either way I don't know if it's something you can really complain about... although you can always get another valuation.

Oh and your place isn't sold until you exchange, after which who cares what a valuation says?

I suppose I see it as remarking an academic paper - the results do affect us, as we are the sellers, and to all intents and purposes, one valuer has knocked down our valuation by £30,000 thus we have lost £30,000.

Mr_Matey

Jewel wrote: »

I suppose I see it as remarking an academic paper - the results do affect us, as we are the sellers, and to all intents and purposes, one valuer has knocked down our valuation by £30,000 thus we have lost £30,000.

Don't get yourself too worked up about it yet. They may change their mind tomorrow. Your time now would be better spent making the place spotless imo.

If it remains revalued down £30k, your buyers may want to renegotiate, which is their right. But that doesn't mean you have to accept the full £30k reduction. Bit of haggling methinks.

Jewel_2

From what I understand (and I will know more tomorrow), the buyers are happy to pay the price we agreed initially. We cannot move a penny on the price (even if there are problems) and they know that, we told them when we agreed the price. So unless the valuers can change their evaluation, it's a no go, unless the buyers can find the extra money, which I doubt

Anyway, good idea. Although I think I'll have a gin and tonic instead ... is it that time already!

Mr_Matey

Cheers :beer: and good luck tomorrow.

lincroft1710

The valuer has a duty to his client. As you are not his client you cannot "complain" about his valuation. In his opinion your home is worth £270K and this is the figure he advises to his client. He may have found something which may be OK at the moment, but if it did get worse may need repairs costing up to £30K. So he has to err on the side of caution.

You may be able to convince him to increase his valuation but I think you will need good evidence.

Jewel_2

lincroft1710 wrote: »

The valuer has a duty to his client. As you are not his client you cannot "complain" about his valuation. In his opinion your home is worth £270K and this is the figure he advises to his client. He may have found something which may be OK at the moment, but if it did get worse may need repairs costing up to £30K. So he has to err on the side of caution.

You may be able to convince him to increase his valuation but I think you will need good evidence.

I think we can find evidence, so hopefully that will help. Having said that, I think the buyer is cheesed off as this is the second time the valuers have undervalued a property for them, and I would assume they've paid the valuers a lot of money for the valuations, even though it's in the mortgage lender's best interests etc. There was a news report about valuers knocking 10% off 'just because' - that's what concerns me, and in future, when asked whether we have had the house valued, we will have to tell prospective buyers, and doubtless they will then not offer more, so in effect, this one valuation has knocked off £30,000, irrespective of whether or not it is an opinion.

It's put me off buying actually, so I think I would be quite happy to stay put at the end of the day.

I reckon I can find some loophole to make a complaint

lincroft1710

What would you do if you were buying and survey came back at 10% less than price you had agreed to buy at?

There can be no "loophole" as no law/regulations in place. The only possible comeback you would have is if you had found surveyor had been bribed by his client to artificially lower valuation. Then you could complain to RICS, and they would probably take some disciplinary action.