The wrong survey....opinions please!

fedupwiththehouse

Thanks again. When you have the different reports in front of you, the difference is clear. Not so when you have never seen examples before.

silvercar

I think the lender was wrong to arrange a housebuyer's report after you moved in. They should have acknowledged that you paid for someting you didn't get. Paid you back the difference in price between the valuation and the housebuyers survey. Added on £50 for good will and left it at that. To do a report, on which you could be expected to base your purchasing decision, after the event seems an odd decision to make.

Tiger_greeneyes

silvercar wrote:

I think the lender was wrong to arrange a housebuyer's report after you moved in. They should have acknowledged that you paid for someting you didn't get. Paid you back the difference in price between the valuation and the housebuyers survey. Added on £50 for good will and left it at that. To do a report, on which you could be expected to base your purchasing decision, after the event seems an odd decision to make.

The only thing it says to me is that they knew they were in the wrong and had to do something about it before it escalated. The word 'appeasement' springs to mind...

They should have at least asked if the Homebuyers was still wanted and offered a full refund.

If there is a comeback on any of this, that would be the thing I would choose to highlight. I would certainly argue that the report wasn't needed, that it was far too late, and had I been consulted about a way forward, I'd have cancelled it and taken a refund.

I don't think it's too late to take that approach, personally

benood

I think there are parallels here with endowment misselling - the OP is not an expert and couldn't be expected to know the difference between a valuation and a HBR and for that matter a full structural - if he'd ordered a full structural and received a valuation then the situation would have been the same.

Outcome - you should be able to negotiate a pretty reasonable sum of compensation - let us know how you get on.

Tiger_greeneyes

I personally don't think it's quite that simple benood.

The types of survey must have been explained for the OP to be able to choose which one they wanted. The OP paid for but didn't receive their expected survey report, but they pressed ahead and exchanged contracts anyway.

It doesn't matter what the survey looks like - if you pay for a survey but don't receive one, then you must surely know you haven't received it?

It would be argued that it was their choice to exchange contracts, even though they knew they were missing a survey report.

olly300

I think it actually depends on what was written on the document.

My homebuyer's report states clearly on it that it was a homebuyer's report. Doing a quick google search all the sample report types clearly state on them what report they are which is valuation, homebuyers or structural survey. So I reckon the BS will get away with saying that the OP exchanged with a document which clearly stated it was a valuation and it was up to them to check what the title of the document was. They could have done this by checking themselves or using their solicitor.

Tiger_greeneyes

That's exactly my point olly.

All of the reports are clearly marked as being exactly what they are. Look at it another way: if you pay for a fridge/freezer, but only a fridge is delivered, would you accept it and sign on the dotted line?

I still think that the OP may be able to get the HBR portion of the fees refunded though, as a matter of goodwill more than anything else, considering the lender technically caused the problem in the first place.

As an aside, (and more importantly before I'm picked up on it! ) the only exception to the rule (that I know of) is Abbey's own equivalent version of the Homebuyer Survey - it's called a Homeview Report - but again it's clearly marked on the folder it's sent out in. Abbey have always had their own version of the Homebuyers Survey, incidentally, it used to be called an RCV (Report on Condition and Valuation).

fedupwiththehouse

Thanks again all - the BS have been very quick to question why we didn't notice..... I still think I can throw the same question back to them!!

Just to clarify, there is some information contained in the initial 'valuation' (some reference to flat roofs and a couple of other ongoing maintenance issues.) This is one of the reasons why we didn't feel any need to question the report we were given (e.g. relatively new house, no major issues).

I should also point out that it's not as though we are young and inexperienced. We have owned property before, but having lived in tied accommodation for a number of years, we are probably a little out of touch with the current procedures.

I've now been able to speak to a couple of solicitors and someone from RICS. General opinion is that we should definitely pursue this. I will let you know what happens!

Thanks again for all responses.

DavidHM

If anyone has any doubts as to where this is going, Google the case of Smith v Bush.

It's a pretty good summary of all the law on homebuyer's reports, valuation surveys and so on.

olly300

DavidHM wrote:

If anyone has any doubts as to where this is going, Google the case of Smith v Bush.

It's a pretty good summary of all the law on homebuyer's reports, valuation surveys and so on.

The OP stated that the value of the property wasn't affected by having a valuation rather than a homebuyer's survey. From the first post:
"We have been told today by the Building Society that they are basically throwing out our complaint as the overall valuation has stayed the same"

The problem is that due to the wrong survey the OP didn't have a chance to either negotiate that certain things where either fixed or paid to be fixed by the vendors before exchange.