Under valued survey

puddy

RX-78 wrote: »

Thanks, it nice to have someone with insight. I've been calling the surveyor since yesterday with no joy (and EA has been trying since 5 days ago), always on answer phone. Funny how they had no problem answering the phone when they needed to arrange the survey. I get a feeling even when I do catch the surveyor he'll be too bigheaded to justify is valuation.

Asked the buyer to show me the survey report so that might shed some light onto it.

how much are you paying them to see it?

Milliewilly

jenner wrote: »

how much are you paying them to see it?

Why are people so guarded about their surveys? Its paid for, you can't get the money back why not show the vendor that the valuation is lower?

As a seller if a buyer came to me and said the valuation was lower and wouldn't show me the report I would have to assume they were trying it on.

puddy

if she wants a survey for her property she can damn well pay for one herself!

Milliewilly

jenner wrote: »

if she wants a survey for her property she can damn well pay for one herself!

Its nothing to do with the seller wanting a free Survey report its to do with justifying a reduction in the accepted price.

Some buyers for my house said they had a 32 page list of faults (which they conveniently forgot to bring with them when they came round to discuss the report with me) but were happy to take away my copy of a full structural survey I had paid for 2 years previously. I only gave it them btw to show them what an !!!! their surveyor had been if what they told me was true.

No proof = no reduction.

JQ.

Milliewilly wrote: »

No proof = no reduction.

Completely agree. Things like that cannot be taken on trust when £000's of pounds are involved.

However, the Vendor should not be phoning the valuer or trying to raise complaints. The report should contain everything the Vendor needs to see (assuming the buyer lets them see it)- if they're not happy with it, sell the flat to someone else.

RX-78

Gosh a few heated comments here.

As Milliewilly said, I may accept my perception of value of the flat may be wrong but not without seeing the survey. Would you agree to loose several thousand pounds on someone's say so? And if the buyer isn't willing to share that information with me, I would wonder what is he trying to hide - perhaps a few porkie pies about the survey value?

In my case the buyer isn't happy either - he disagrees with the surveyer having looked at the land legistry & current market prices and knows I will not sell it at the survey price. But ofcourse mortgage will only lend to the value of the survey so he's having to scrape for extra deposit. Or consider pulling out. If he didn't need a mortgage or had large reserve of cash to play with, low valuation will be in his favour but that is not the case here. I hope we can reach an agreement.

I see no reason why surveyor will not justify his pricing if the buyer (who is the paymaster) gives permission to do so. Or atleast the surveyor could say he cannot divulge the information without the buyer's consent rather than avoid picking up the phone!

I do know I can always say no (as stated in my op) but that is waste of time, energy & potential loss of purchase so I'd be reluctant to do so. But it all depends on how much money doesn't it? Anyway, my post was about what to do with surveyor who has caused headache for all concerned....

CloudCuckooLand

YOU cannot do anything about the surveyor. He was employed by the buyer/their lender. Just because the buyer/lender chooses to come to a conclusion based on the surveyor's report, does not mean there is a direct cause of your 'potential loss'.

The buyer could choose to ignore the report if they had the cash, or get a second opinion, if they really believed it was a mistake.

Or another buyer could come along and get a different survey result. Different lenders are being cautious to differing degrees.

You have not suffered a loss, until you crystalise it. Which would be a choice on your part.

Obviously if the buyer wants to convince you to drop the price a bit, to perhaps meet halfway, he should show you the report. But he doesn't HAVE to. He paid for it, its between him and his lender/surveyor.

Its for the two of you to choose to work together and compromise, or walk away from the deal.

Depending on the type of survey/Lender, I believe some do not allow the buyer to see the valuation element of a report anyway - the Lender keeps it confidential and decides in-house - maybe the Lender stated to the buyer "it was on the basis of the survey report", and the buyer has focused his blame on the surveyor - when in reality it might be the lender adjusting the survey figure to reflect their in-house policy. There are threads with reasonable survey values being reduced by Lenders - this might be one of those.

I'm curious about your approach to buying things - do you just pay whatever is asked, or do you shop around - so the next flat you get, will you rely on the vendor's opinion or rely on your surveyor who you pay hundreds of pounds to protect your interests?

CloudCuckooLand

Oh, just my own anecdote on survey results. I declined to proceed on a house with thousands of pounds of work detailed in a survey - was kind enough to give a copy to the vendor, so they understood the problems...all the vendor did was rubbish the surveyor and deny any of the issues existed. Now I know surveys can sometimes be !!!!-covering, but there were some definite issues...so i walked away.

After two further failed SSTCs, and two years, they eventually sold for £50k less...

RX-78

CloudCuckooLand,

I think alot of what you say makes sense and I agree with.

I didn't know the lenders could artificially decrease the value. Is that legal? Surely the buyer who has paid for the valuation has the right to an impartial valuation, not the one that suits lender.

Assuming (yes I know we haven't established this is the case) I do think if a professional has made an error, he should be given a chance to correct it. If he refuses I feel an affected person, which I am one regardless of if I comissioned his services or not, should be allowed to make a complaint to the governing body. After all that is the purpose of having a governing body, and I pay over 4k in indemnity fee each year to protect myself professionally. Why shouldn't I complain about a professional whom I feel has not acted professinally?

p.s. When I shop, I tend to do alot of research - I'll ask experienced friends, I'll ask professionals, I'll look on internet (with pinch of salt!) etc. And than, I'll try and weight up the information I have at hand and decide what is right for me. I would consider a surveyor's report a very important source of information even if I disagree with it as long as his explanation makes sense.

CloudCuckooLand

Illegal? LOL. Take a chill pill. IT IS THEIR MONEY.

Re the "right to an impartial value". If its a Homebuyers or Full survey, the buyer will see that, as well as hearing the decision of the lender - that's how we have those threads that discuss "adjustments", because people are reporting the discrepancies.

The survey will form only 1 part of the Lender's decision in lending what is THEIR money. Just as you don't agree with the surveyors valuation, and that it not illegal, so the Lender taking it into account but choosing to adjust it - or appearing to adjust it - cannot be illegal - its THEIR money, so if they wish to change the criteria they apply, that is up to them. Possible reasons might include;

- they might have met a quota for the region/property type, that means they want to encourage lower LTVs in order to focus their remaining funds on other areas/property types.

- they might have made a commitment to a particular deal, that it turns out is going to cost them too much, so they need to ease the rate of take up.

- they might have direct experience of repossessions in the block, and/or further cases in arrears or about to go to repossession status, that means that a postcode is 'black-flagged' for "extra underwriting" - they don't want to throw good money after bad.

Bottom line, if your buyer wants to use THEIR money, he has to fulfill THEIR criteria. He is perfectly entitled to go somewhere else.


All of which is assumptions/examples, as you don't know the facts yet. Get them.