Halifax mortgage advisor disgusting behaviour

AliceBanned

Hi all

I posted on here a few days ago about being given an Agreement in Principle from the Halifax on a RTB mortgage. I have been looking for two years on and off to get a mortgage but it is an ex-council flat and prefab concrete. I was cautiously happy that the mortgage seemed to be going through but my gut feeling told me something not right was going on in particular with the second mortgage advisor that I spoke to. I felt tainted after my phone conversation with him, and I'll explain what happened:

1. Spoke to advisor 1 and he sent me through key facts doc by email, said I had AIP. He didn't ask for any payment for surveyor but left it with me to decide.
2. I phoned back a couple of days later having been refused by everyone else and spoke to advisor 2. He phoned me back that evening to take further details as I said the price and offer notice had changed. I asked for a key facts illustration at this stage and he said "that isn't necessary". What a cheek, apart from anything else! I said I need to see it all laid out. He agreed to send but said he couldn't send until Monday of the following week as it was late and "I have to leave the building, the offices are closing". It seemed strange that he had time to take my payment for the survey £280, and then tell me that he had no idea it was a concrete build, (which I had mentioned to both advisors as I know this can be a problem), but no time to give me the documents I should be given. He also at this point kept banging on about insurance and to be honest I had no inclination to take out their insurance due to the high pressure sales he was using and not listening. he didn't seem to take no for an answer. I ended up saying to him on one occasion "I'm a first time buyer, it is difficult enough, I need to time to look at everything and give it some thought". To be honest I felt almost abused by this individual.
3. Today the surveyor was due to come at 9am. I was tentatively hopeful that I might finally get a mortgage on this property but my gut feeling kept telling me something wasn't right. I phoned the Halifax at 9.30 and no one had contacted me, but the very helpful and understanding lady at the Halifax whom I spoke to informed me however that "the surveyor has seen the property and we have declined". I explained that I was sitting here waiting. It turns out he had driven past, at £280 cost to me, and then declared it was precast concrete which Halifax don't lend on anyway. The first question I ask any lender is whether they lend on a concrete property! Why give all my details and waste time otherwise?! The advisors both told me it depends and a surveyor would need tos ee the property, that as far as they were concerned the mortgage was in the system and all going smoothly. Somehow this didn't reassure me, as all was done over the phone and even when asking for documentation from advisor 2, I got cagey answers or even a flat refusal. Disgusting. The lady from the surveyor's office today apologised and said Halifax should have called them to check before they even considered sending out a surveyor and charging me, and she said sorry about the poor service. However when i spoke to the surveyor last week to arrange the appointment and again said it was concrete he said "oh it depends, we need to see it" blah blah. Sounds like a scam going on!

I got the key facts doc on Monday and all was as agreed on the phone, but I still had worries about whether they had listened and taken seriously the fact that it was concrete.

4. After I spoke to the Halifax the surveyor's office thankfully phoned and apologised and said they would not bill the halifax and I should be refunded. In the meantime I had phoned my credit card and they agreed to look into how and why the payment was taken (unfairly and unclearly. and faster than I knew what was happenig; I thought i was giving the card details to be taken at a later point!) and if the Halifax don't resolve then they would try.

so hopefully I will be refunded but the over-zealous advisor 2 has caused me stress, disappointment and yes a kind of tainted feeling that I describe. yuk!

ILW

Why would you want to buy a property that would be impossible to sell on at any time in the future?

AliceBanned

Because I'm paying rent (housing association tenant). Because I get £13,500 discount on this one. Because it is £72000 and I can't find an offer like that and only have £4k deposit of my own. Because I like living here and a mortgage would cost the same as renting. Surely I don't have to justify why i want to buy it, that isn't the point!! It is my home. Because I want equity. Because it is a decent place to live but paying rent will keep me here forever. Some people are this desperate, believe me!! I don't believe it's unmortgageable; the current market makes many people unable to get a mortgage and many properties. I don't think it is the property that is at fault; it is our greedy financial institutions.

Wutang_2

Its all recorded so complain - although 'scam' and 'disgusting' are slightly OTT. Sounds like you knew from the start it wasnt going to happen.

ILW

AliceBanned wrote: »

Because I'm paying rent (housing association tenant). Because I get £13,500 discount on this one. Because it is £72000 and I can't find an offer like that and only have £4k deposit of my own. Because I like living here and a mortgage would cost the same as renting. Surely I don't have to justify why i want to buy it, that isn't the point!! It is my home. Because I want equity. Because it is a decent place to live but paying rent will keep me here forever. Some people are this desperate, believe me!! I don't believe it's unmortgageable; the current market makes many people unable to get a mortgage and many properties. I don't think it is the property that is at fault; it is our greedy financial institutions.

Sorry, but your previous post says it is.
No point in buying a place that has no resale value, better off to keep on renting it.

AliceBanned

Not OTT at all. Refusing to send key facts illustration is in fact illegal. The surveyor's office have apologised for the poor service i've received so i'm sure I'll get my money back. Some people fail to understand the investment which goes into trying to get a home and the huge disappointment which is caused by these people treating people in this way. I simply couldn't be evasive, pushy and selfish, so yes I think it's disgusting. Scam - one surveyor tells me he needs to see the property but in fact he "drives by" at a cost of £280 to me, knowing full well that the Halifax don't lend on concrete properties. I think that is indeed a scam and is dishonest. It simply isn't necessary for such greed and for vulnerable people to be treated in this way.

I think you're both being extremely harsh. I don't have many choices and I'm just trying to make my life better, and I get this kind of treatment from people who think they can get away with it. I don't see that I'm the one to blame but clearly that's your opinion. I said I had a "gut feeling" but I am talking about pressure and misselling. This is how it works; of course if I'd known there would definitely be a problem, I'd not even try.

AliceBanned

ILW wrote: »

Sorry, but your previous post says it is.
No point in buying a place that has no resale value, better off to keep on renting it.

Forget it please. I didnt' post on here to get aggression back, I'm upset enough. My post states that I DONT think it's UNMORTGAGEABLe. so I don't know what you are saying. It's a lovely home and the mortgage market is not its usual self, so these properties are not favoured.

maninthestreet

AliceBanned wrote: »

Forget it please. I didnt' post on here to get aggression back, I'm upset enough. My post states that I DONT think it's UNMORTGAGEABLe. so I don't know what you are saying. It's a lovely home and the mortgage market is not its usual self, so these properties are not favoured.

Whether or not you think it's mortgagable is irrelevant to whether or not any lender does.

ILW

AliceBanned wrote: »

Forget it please. I didnt' post on here to get aggression back, I'm upset enough. My post states that I DONT think it's UNMORTGAGEABLe. so I don't know what you are saying. It's a lovely home and the mortgage market is not its usual self, so these properties are not favoured.

My apologies if I sounded aggressive, it was not my intention.
Certain types of pre cast concrete construction (mainly properties built in the 50s 60s and 70s) have not been mortgagable since the late 70s when it was discovered that there was a high risk of a breakdown within the concrete. This would mean that even if you did manage to get a mortgage the chances are that if you ever wanted to sell then your buyer would not be able to get the finance. You also could find yourself liable to massive repair charges if the structure did start to degrade which as an owner could easily run into many tens of thousands of pounds. My advice (for what its worth) may be to try and get a transfer to a different property and then try to buy that.

g_attrill

Another thing to think of, which has been posted here before, is that presumably you currently have a secure tenancy and it is pretty unlikely you will ever be made to leave it, regardless of your circumstances. If you got a mortgage and couldn't afford it (for whatever reason, illness, loss of job), you would be homeless.

I don't know your circumstances, but if you have children and want to leave them something then buying a RTB is probably a good idea, otherwise, I don't think there is much point.

Sooler

AliceBanned wrote: »

Because I get £13,500 discount on this one. Because it is £72000

The price is £72000. Saving a theoretical £13,500 is not a good reason to spend a real £72000.
Sounds like the housing association would be only too glad to get rid of these properties at any price.

AliceBanned wrote: »

Because I like living here and a mortgage would cost the same as renting.

No - you'd have the additional expense for all of the maintenance, as pointed out due to the construction this could be financially disastorous. In some areas local authorities are demolishing concrete houses or carrying out extensive work to deal with problems of the concrete construction.

AliceBanned wrote: »

paying rent will keep me here forever.

No - buying it will keep you there - if it's a difficult property to sell it'll be a mill stone around your neck. Rent it and you can leave any time you wish. If you buy it you won't be able to move unless someone comes along to buy from you - how long would that take - may be weeks - possibly years, who knows.