Halifax

moneymaker1979

Hi everyone,

im in need of some advice, got a mortgage promise with Halifax for a £34,000 repossession, i had to pay up front for the surveyor who went out and valued the property and gave it positive feedback for the mortgage, then my broker tells me that halifax have came back and said, its not their policy to give mortgages on houses valued under £40k!!

my question is...why give a mortgage promise in the first place and then continue to take my money for a valuation, knowing they dont give the mortgage in the first place? not only has this set me back by 2 weeks buying the property but how do i get my money back??

thanks

Thrugelmir

The AIP was in respect of you not the property. Your broker should have checked what Halifax's policy was.

An AIP is not a mortgage promise. Your application could still have been declined.

Has your broker tried to recover the fees paid?

kingstreet

TBH it's a pretty poor broker who doesn't know

The minimum valuation amount for all lending is £40,000

this is in Halifax lending criteria.

Having an agreement in principle isn't the issue. You may well have purchased a more expensive property.

However, the broker should never have submitted an application to Halifax with a property with a purchase price of less than £40,000 and if he tried to do so, I'd expect the Halifax online system to refuse to accept it.

God knows how a valuation was carried out at your expense.

Complaint to broker in first instance.

moneymaker1979

Thanks for your replies, i'm heading in to see him today, im so annoyed!! he has now went to another lender but i never asked about a refund just told him i wasnt paying for another one! it only occurred to me that they still went through with the valuation! i know your saying its a poor Broker! but to get a mortgage promise and valuation done you have to give the buying price of the house which is £34k, all searches and everything are sitting with my solicitor!

kingstreet

You have incurred unnecessary costs because the broker recommended Halifax to you. It's for the broker to establish the lender will accept the application and to check the application is acceptable to the lender's criteria before allowing your money to be spent.

If I'd done this, I'd be apologising and refunding your fee out of pure embarrassment.

Is this a local broker or someone who works for a big firm?

GMS

Totally agree with kingstreet. May be an oversight but if a client came to me with a 34k property it would immediately raise the question of minimum valuation for lenders.

Never going to happen with Halifax.

Ask your broker ot go back to Halifax and get a refund for the valuation. As it did not fit their criteria they should have declined it before the valuation was instructed. This assumes it was submitted with correct details.

If Halifax wont refund then your broker should refund or cover the cost of the next one. Bottle of wine or 2 for an apology wouldnt hurt either!