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

Empty_pockets

You should have found a surveyor and had they compelte a survey on your behalf.

I'd take whatever money is being offered and run.

oneburge

If you have just had a valuation report done that lists only major works, then there may be a whole host of things you don't know about. Decide if you want to continue with the property or not. If you do, I would do the following:

1) Commission a full structural survey (£600-£800ish) so you really know what is going on, and/or invite some specialists/a builder to investigate quote for what it would take to fix

2) Reduce your offer by the amount that has been quoted. Ignore the Estate Agent, it's take it or leave it for your vendor

Consider yourself very lucky to have got any money back at all - I think it more likely that it's compensation because they've been inefficient and not because you have been 'wronged' in any way

annoye

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PasturesNew

Maybe it is worth what you're paying - and if the problem/s didn't exist it'd be priced £5-15k more.

We're pixels, we don't know... but that's how things tend to work.

annoye

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annoye

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annoye

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jjj1980

I work as a Mortgage Administrator at a brokers and spend my days following up cases with lenders,solicitors, surveyors etc so will see if I can help.

Unless there is a a really tight timescale, we always advise clients to hold off incurring any solicitor fees until after the mortgage offer has been issued. I might have missed this in your other posts so apologies if I have but let me ask a few questions.


Have you received your copy of the mortgage offer?

In the box detailing the amount and term of the mortgage, what figure does it state for the valuation amount?

How much loan-to-value are you taking out?


The reason I ask is because even if the property has been downvalued, it doesn't always mean that the offer will not be issued. Could be that it was priced low to sell initially or a low offer to buy was accepted.

Re any rights to the valuation report, the report you paid for was solely for mortgage purposes and they normally have a disclaimer on to say should not be relied upon for any other purpose. It's not uncommon for a desk-top or drive-by valuation to be done when only the very basic has been opted for. The lenders do not have any responsibility to provide you with a copy however, approached in the right way, they may either agree to or provide contact details for the surveyor. Again, he has been paid to provide the lender with a report so would to be approached in the right way.

I saw you said you went direct to lender as you understand mortgages but you might have been better going via a broker as they tend to deal with all this and have plenty of direct contacts if any problems arise. Was it an independent advisor you saw at first?

maninthestreet

OP - are you sure property ownership is right for you?

teneighty

In my opinion the surveyor is liable to you, even if it was only a valuation report. However that liability is only for any losses you have suffered due to an error or omission in the report. This normally arises when major defects are discovered after purchase which the valuation surveyor missed but should have picked up.

It would appear that the only loss you have suffered is the fee you paid to your solicitor and that is due to an administative error rather than the surveyors negligence. It could also be argued that you should have waited until the mortgage offer was agreed before you engaged the solicitor so that could be tricky.

However, it might still be worth kicking up a fuss to see if you can get some money out of them as I suspect they are rather embarrassed by their very poor performance.

Good Luck