Re mortgage valuation

LexyElmer

Hi,

I have a flat with my ex and have been trying to get off the mortgage for 2 years.
We paid 182k and put down 10%. My ex wants to keep it so is happy to take on the mortgage by himself. We spoke to the mortgage company about taking my name off and putting his new partners name on and they said they could but wanted 40k to do it as they needed 35% deposit now.
Which he does not have. So went to HSBC where they are offering 90% mortgages. We need 162k to pay the existing mortgage off and they offered them the mortgage based on this. However they sent the man round to value the flat an he only valued it at £150k he was there for about 4 mins and didn't do any measuring or testing. They charged us £175. for this and there is no report to explain what they have based this amount on. A 1 bed flat in the same block sold for 150k last week so as a 2 bed i would think that this should be values at more ?

Please can some one help me and let me know how these valuations should be performed ?

Thanks in advance.

Lex

G_M

Unfortunately the valuation is arranged and done by the lender, so you have no 'right' to see it.

The only options are to accept it, or contest it. To do the latter you'll need to show sale prices of identical local properties and probobly a surveyor's valuation of your own (which will cost you of course).

And I have no idea if the Lender is likely to even reconsider, let alone accept your counter-valuation!

Best option is to speak to them first and see if they'll review the decision IF you produce evidence.

BadgerFace_2

I'd double check before starting any of this whether they will actually give you 90% on a flat, many won't...ask the person on the phone to double check, they may just say yes.

mlz1413

The surveyor who spent 4 mins in the flat was literally just ensuring the flat was in good order (ie no walls missing) and his valuation would have been based on market values.
You should have had a copy of the valuation and could ask for this to ensure no adverse comments have been made.

You can ask if you can dispute due to the sale value of the other flat, but the lenders probably take the lowest value due to the ecomony being depressed - have you actually checked the sold price on a website like Our Property.co.uk? or is this what it was up for sale for?

I think your best bet would be to keep looking for a new lender or bite the bullet and insist it is sold and you can both then break your finanical link.

Terrysdelight

I have taken out a couple of mortgages lately and my experience is that the lenders like to undervalue a bit - it gives them more equity in the property should something go wrong.

I would go on to Nethouseprices.com and print off sale prices and then go back to the lenders to see if they can adjust the valuation. Also, when doing valuations, they take in the length of the lease when making valuations.

I tried this approach - it didn't work for me, but it did for one of my friends.