Mortgage Valuation done without consent

beetle12

Hi,

Im in the process of buying a house and opted for a homebuyer report to be done. I had a bit of a wobble and asked to hold off on the survey being done until I made my mind up, only to be told it had already been done and was with the mortgage company. This was on monday 18th. I only signed and sent the form back to the surveyor agreeing to the valuation on friday 15th so it appears they went ahead and did it without my consent. I then received a copy of the report yesterday dated 19th which is obviously wrong. I asked the estate agent when the survey had been done and they said the tuesday 12th! Just had the valuation part through the post dated 15th. All seems to be obvious that they did it before I signed the paperwork. I'd like to know if I have any comeback as they already took the money for it?

Oh yes and they valued the house 20k less that the agreed asking price for no reason I can fathom... Survey was great only one 2 and the rest 1's! As vendors already dropped 20k off the asking price I cant see them coming down any more.
Any ideas what to do next and who to complain to?!
Thanks

GMS

Once you have paid the fee then you have authorised the instruction unless you specifically tell them not to.

If it was valued at the amount you wanted would you still want to complain?

beetle12

Yes because I was wondering whether or not to go ahead with the purchase before the valuation was even done.
I originally gave my card details to the mortgage broker when we went through the mortgage appliaction and was told the money would be taken when the survey was done... There is a conflict of interest apparently between the surveyor and estate agent and again the fors stated that I needed to sign to agree that this was ok.
Are they allowed to change the date on the forms to suit themselves?

GMS

Take it up with your broker.

Survey will always be paid for prior to it being instructed.

Dave_Ham

I think this is a bit harsh, but Estate Agent Broker/Negotiator mentality.

If you were not sure on the property at market value but liked it, get the £20k off and then see how you feel.

Just because they done a deal £20k less than marketed value, not market value does not mean they will not come down.

If I put my house up for £1,000,000 and someone wanted to pay me £900k - believe me they have not got £100k off me already - slightly overkilled my point, but a chartered surveyor has downvalued the house - possible their next buyer will have the same issue.

Forget the credit card issue, fight over this and will be long and hard - concentrate on whether you want the property and go forward on this basis.

Good luck

beetle12

Thanks - the whole point was I didn't want to waste the money on a survey of a property I wasn't sure I wanted to buy!

Dave_Ham

Then why on Earth did you go have an offer accepted, go through an application and then hand over your debit/credit card details.

Naive at best although if you were the seller and you withdrew your house from the market on the strength of someone putting in an offer - what is all that about?

beetle12

At the time of the offer we did want to buy it and were serious about it and possibly still are. But over the weekend another property came up that may have suited us better - a property that is not even on the open market and was a word of mouth recomendation so I wanted a few days to consider which was the best option.
There are several personal/medical reasons for this move which obviously you dont know about and I need to be sure I am making the right move as it will be my last.

Dave_Ham

Then please do not give your card details to the broker, I fear you will not get this money back.

Try to come toyour decision and do be honest with the vendors on both properties.

I hope you get the right end result

Thrugelmir

beetle12 wrote: »

so I wanted a few days to consider which was the best option.

Then chalk the matter up to experience.

For vendors (and EA's) there's nothing worse than time wasters.

robatwork

If you made an offer it means you're serious.
If you paid for a valuation it means you're very serious.

Perhaps you weren't?
I don't think this is anyone's mistake other than your own.

Rob