Lenders Survey Put No Value On House?

crusty_toenail

Hi there,

I am in the process of buying a house and applied for a mortgage with Alliance and Leicester.

As part of the mortgage deal I am eligible for a free lenders valuation.

The valuation was completed and I received it by post along with a covering letter stating:

'we regret we are unable to answer specific questions on the structure, condition or value of the property due to the limited nature of the valuation inspection. We strongly recommend you obtain a more detialed survey report on the property'.

The survey itself seems all okay apart from the line:

'some isolated high moisture readings were obtained to areas of ground floor walls. Although this would not appear severe it would be prudent to obtain a specialist damp/timber report from a reputable company and have any recommendations acted on'.

My next step is to get a full survey carried out but I was just wondering why a value was not put on the property?!

Does anybody know??!!

Thanks in advance,

Crusty

googler

They gave you a 'free valuation' but didn't provide a valuation?

I think you need to protest to either the mortgage lender or surveyor for wasting your time before you order a more detailed survey.....

thistledome

The "free" lender's valuation is more for your lender's benefit than yours. Their copy probably did have a valuation figure on it. Ring them and ask.

Btw, there is a type of valuation called a "Drive Past", where the surveyor just looks at the house from the road (usually for a second charge loan). When I queried the value of this I was told "sometimes the lender just wants to know that the house is actually there!".

PasturesNew

thistledome wrote: »

Btw, there is a type of valuation called a "Drive Past", where the surveyor just looks at the house from the road (usually for a second charge loan). When I queried the value of this I was told "sometimes the lender just wants to know that the house is actually there!".

These used to be mostly on re-mortgages, in case your house had actually burnt down or fallen down and you were trying to raise a new mortgage and hide the fact.

clutton_2

the Lender must have a value - otherwise he cannot calculate how much % of the asking price he will lend you... if he is not going to offer you a mortgage why would you need to pay for a structural survey ??

makes no sense....

i'd phone and ask to speak to an underwriter if it was me....

its not the B -Awful Halifax is it ???

uk_property_expert

Banks use hometrack valuations instead of drive buys quite often which if the comparables are good will give a good indication of the value. Google hometrack as i cant post links and if you do a valuation it will cost you £20.00. This survey (one with 100% retention) gives you great bargaining power with the sellers I would ask them to pay for the survey from a specialist damp/timber report asthey may not be able to sell without it.

G_M

The valuation is for the lender, not for you. It's not a substitute for a survey and it's not free (you're paying a mortguage application fee? Admin fee?). Its purpose is to reassure the lender (not you!) that the house is worth what they are lending (which is not the same as what you are paying!).

If they are willing to share the valuation with you, fine. If not, tough!

Damp readings are often found and may, but often don't, indicate the presence of damp! Suggesting "a specialist damp/timber report " is standard practice.

Read what Jeff has to say!

"electrical conductance-type meters to "diagnose" rising damp are labeled "moisture meters", but they do not really measure moisture. They measure electrical conductance, and will give a reading on any building material which allows an electric current to flow through it. Clinker blocks, for example, which are made from coal ash, have a high carbon content, which means they conduct electricity. So clinker blocks will always give a high reading on one of these meters, even when they are bone-dry. These meters are actually calibrated for use on timber, and they can give reasonable approximations of moisture contents in wood, but on bricks, plaster and wallpaper they give readings which are way too high, and can easily be used to give the impression that a wall is damp when it is actually in a perfectly normal equilibrium moisture state "

Jonbvn

uk_property_expert wrote: »

Banks use hometrack valuations instead of drive buys quite often which if the comparables are good will give a good indication of the value. Google hometrack as i cant post links and if you do a valuation it will cost you £20.00.

Why pay when you can get similar information free?

Try ZOOPLA http://www.zoopla.co.uk

googler

Jonbvn wrote: »

Why pay when you can get similar information free?

Try ZOOPLA http://www.zoopla.co.uk

Because zoopla can't be relied on, for average prices and estimates at least.

I can see an area where zoopla's estimate of average price is over £750,000 - nothing has sold there at over £300k, and the true average is probably nearer £150k - but zoopla's figures included a big land sale at £1.75million..... which sort of skews the averages a bit.

crusty_toenail

G_M wrote: »

The valuation is for the lender, not for you. It's not a substitute for a survey and it's not free (you're paying a mortguage application fee? Admin fee?). Its purpose is to reassure the lender (not you!) that the house is worth what they are lending (which is not the same as what you are paying!).

If they are willing to share the valuation with you, fine. If not, tough!

Damp readings are often found and may, but often don't, indicate the presence of damp! Suggesting "a specialist damp/timber report " is standard practice.

Read what Jeff has to say!

"electrical conductance-type meters to "diagnose" rising damp are labeled "moisture meters", but they do not really measure moisture. They measure electrical conductance, and will give a reading on any building material which allows an electric current to flow through it. Clinker blocks, for example, which are made from coal ash, have a high carbon content, which means they conduct electricity. So clinker blocks will always give a high reading on one of these meters, even when they are bone-dry. These meters are actually calibrated for use on timber, and they can give reasonable approximations of moisture contents in wood, but on bricks, plaster and wallpaper they give readings which are way too high, and can easily be used to give the impression that a wall is damp when it is actually in a perfectly normal equilibrium moisture state "

Thanks for this, that Jeff website makes for interesting reading:)

kmmr

i had a valuation by a&l recently and they wont tell you the result. but oddly they would tell me the new ltv! from which it wasnt too hard to work out the value.