MASSIVE Valuation mess up, trying to get my money back! be warned, ITS LONG!

annoye

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G_M

1) the estate agent is NOT your agent, he is the SELER's agent. The seller will pay him, not you. He works for the seller, not you. Ignore him.

2)The mortgage Valuation is done by the mortgage lender, for THEIR protection, not yours. They do not have to show it to you (and usually don't). If you want a survey done, you need to instruct a surveyor (usually you can choose to use the same survayor as the mortgage lender, and this may be cheaper).

I'm afraid your problem is lack of understanding of the process.

get yourself a book (free) from the library that explains how house-buying works.

Considering you are buying someing costing £hundreds of thousands, which is the biggest expenditure you will ever make, you have gone into this very naively, wihout doing any research, and understanding very little of what you are doing.

You are lucky to be being offered anything!

Incidentally, making an offer on a property with tenants is also very unwise (though in this case it has been useful to you!). You have no way of knowing if, or when, the tenants will leave. They could drag out the purchase process so long your mortgage offer expies!

annoye

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G_M

Did you pay £315 for a Valuation? (as per line 2 of your first post).

Or did you pay for a Homebuyers Report?

Or did you pay for a full survey?

sharpee

It sounds like the Op misunderstood what the valuation report was for and what it covored. Certainly £315 sounds like it was the Valuation survey. The Ops is a first time buyer and sounds like they don't fully understand the house buying process.

motherofstudents

Have to agree with GM, you don't seem to understand the process. It is fairly unusual for the valuation report to contain much information other than the 'value' of the property in terms of the lender having to repossess. Did you request a homebuyers report or a full building survey ? These are what you need to get an opinion on the state of the house and which you can then use to re-negotiate.

keystone

The pain and pleasure of buying property! You've got your mortgage offer so thats safe. Drop your offer price by the amount it will take to fix it plus a bit for contingency. If you like the house that much its a worthwhile punt. If the seller turns you down then thats his loss seeing as how he's already packed his tenants bags for them. You will be no worse off than you are today. Next get and own independent report. Rising and penetrating damp at one and the same time are infrequent. Sounds like a CYA report and it will be well worth comissioning your own. If your own says the first one is hogwash and its going to cost one third of the estimates you have now and the seller has agreed to a revised selling price based on the first report negotiations you will have come out ahead.

HTH

Cheers

annoye

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annoye

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sharpee

Op this might help

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/house-buying-guide

Its states:

Valuation fee
You should also expect to pay a valuation fee for a survey. This is to check a) the property exists and b) it offers the lender sufficient security for the loan. The cost depends on property value and your lender but assume around £250.

And

Surveys
Yet don’t just factor in one survey, for the worst case scenario, budget for two or three. Sadly it’s common to spend £700 on surveys for homes you don’t eventually buy. If the survey flags up faults and the seller won’t budge on price, you lose £400-£700 a time. Look at it as part of the expense of buying, and if it works out first time … bonus.


I've only bought two houses in my time but both times I paid for the required Valuation survey and opted for the basic Homebuyers Survey. It is generally thought you would be slightly foolish to not have a Homebuyers survey as a minimum.

phill99

You haven't been conned. You have simply experienced the pitfalls of the house buying process.

You don't have a court case to bring against any one.

Welcome to the real world.