Mortgage Valuations

PalSol

I am an Independent Mortgage Adviser with nearly 10 years industry experiance. I write this post as i am certain many of you feel disgusted with the high costs of "basic" valuations. The cost of this type of valuation although a lot cheaper than say a homebuyers or a full structural has been rising considerably in the past year although the fees being charged by the actual surveyors has not. For example Northern Rock will charge £505 for a 1 page basic report on a property valued at £200,001 whereas with Halifax, Alliance & Leicester, Nationwide all coming in under £340 and Abbey at £295 and Norwich & Peterborough at only £250. Why is this when the panel of surveyors they use is 95% the same. I feel the whole "valuation" process needs closer inspection especially after you have paid your money to the lender you are not legally allowed to communicate with the surveyor who you have just paid as the instruction came via the lender. Valuers are a whole different ball game and their role also needs to be looked into, but for now i thought i'd post this to see if anyone else agrees with me or has had any experiances regarding valuations.

payless

remember the lenders often include their own admin fees in this fee

on your N Rock example
Val fee is £210
Admin fee £75
Facilitation commisson to NR £220

total £505

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All fees / rates should be considered before choosing a particular deal

Jamz

PalSol wrote:

... I feel the whole "valuation" process needs closer inspection especially after you have paid your money to the lender you are not legally allowed to communicate with the surveyor who you have just paid as the instruction came via the lender. ...

I've been in regular contact with the surveyor who did my valuation?!

Lizzy

Yes I agree,

I am in the property business and have just had 3 basic mortgage valuations at £325 a go. The property valuations were £150000 £155000 and £180000 if they had been over £200000 no idea what it would have cost.

It really needs looking at.


Lizzy

PalSol

You are quite right, the real story is however that these surveyors fire off an invoice to the lender for an pre agreed amount which is decided by the lender and the surveyors company usually a national chain like Countrywide.This amount even adding the additional lenders admin fees is nowhere near what the surveyor has actually charged the lender. Also the true figure is never disclosed to the applicant.

SteveyJC

Can we get Martin to start a big campaign? Its obvious they are using this valuation as a money making scheme, to pay for some of their discount mortgages.

PalSol

Then you are in a very very small minority. I will assume that the valuation came in at what you stated the purchase/remortgage price would be. I can say with some certainty that had your valuation price not been confirmed by the valuer i.e. a drop in his valuation of your property then i doubt very much if he would have been so responsive.

payless

why... its a commodity , you either buy it or go eslewhere

PalSol

Cannot agree Why do lenders insist on instructing the survey! If i can instruct the same survey for £150 by a qualified surveyor from a firm who is on Northern Rocks books then why would Northern Rock still charge me £75 application fee and £220 commission to accept it. This is a real murky area lenders and surveyors are making excessive profits all because they do not have to disclose their fees. In this case why would N Rock charge £220 commission - what did they do to earn this?

tomstickland

The lender has every right to sort the valuation because they are the party at risk if the valuation is wrong.
The fees business is not transparent, I agree.

payless

I don't like big fees ... but it made clear

Application Fee-inon-refundable, payable on application. £75.00

X X

Valuation Report- £430
ithis is non-refundable once a Valuer has been instructed
and is payable when the application is submitted. This figure includes commission
ofi£220.00ipayable to Northern Rock for facilitating, accepting and assessing the
valuation report for mortgage purposes.iA Valuer cannot be instructed until this fee is paid.