Which Surveyor? Should I use a Colleys or EServ surveyor?

pjarvis48

I am suing Colleys for negligence on my homebuyers survey .My advise is stay clear of them or you may pay out more then you expect on repairs

nicola106

Colleys have undervalued my home way below market value called to query why! A manager at Colleys told me they had contracted out to eserv and surveyor drove past my house and they did not know how many bedrooms I had when I queried why valuation below what the 2 bed houses sell for? Poor service incompetent surveyors
Halifax used Colleys when we bought house we paid for in depth survey and they missed that the boiler and shower did not work bedroom window did not close roof leaked and front and back Door did not lock correctly?? :mad:

fed_up_and_stressed

Esurv have been useless with regards to my potential purchaser.

To say they have right royally got on my nerves is an understatement.

We are selling an empty property.

1st appointment between 9-12. 10.30 surveyors office call to say he is sick .ok these things happen.

2nd appointment and yet another day off work appointment between 1-2pm. 2.30 comes and goes and ..nothing.

Call esurv (trying to get through to them is a nightmare by the way.. They ask you to call them back on messages but you have to speak to the afministrator for your area and they are always too busy to speak to you.

Finally insist after 3 calls that i am not getting off the phone till I found out what happened ..it turns out buyers wanted to put the survey on hold ... And Esurv could not be bothered to let me know or cancel the appointment with me.

Finally I gave up and told them to get the keys from the estate agent when the survey went ahead.

This had more issues. The idiot messed around with te gas fire (not sure why as i doubt he is gas safe registered) told the buyers we have rot in the hall skirting board ...erm no you can see tooth marks from my puppy ! And all doors which we insist on keeping closed in case of fire were left ajar.

To be honest Esurv were such a joke they have cost my buyer the purchase as they faffed around the survey too much.

Bart_Protasiewicz

had my 1st survey done as remortgaging this yr and gone for Halifax offer with free valuation and some cashback...Calleys were carrying the survey - it took them about 5-10 minutes to go through everything....but when i received the letter with valuation report i was SHOCKED!!!

bought the house 2 yrs ago (3 bed mid tarranced house about 53 yrs old with front/rear garden and conservatory) for £111k, put solar pannels last yr (own them as paid by cash), new fence and fully refurbished 3 bedrooms this yr...

valuation came with price of £115k stating no issues with the house (not surprised, if the survay took him 5 minutes - but wasn't expecting any issues anyway) and avarage price of properties in my area of between £110-115k.

raised appeal finding out the cheapest property in the area was sold for £118k and the next was £124 - none of them had pannels neither conservatory and required refurbishment...see my email below:

Good morning all,
as per conversation - please find attached scan of appeal forms filled to the best of my knowledge.
Due to not enough space in the summary box - i'd like to add few more lines in this email:
please see the below link to article stating additional value of conservatory to the value of property:

link to Halifax website with house price index (May 2016) showing 20% increase of my property value since i've bought it (April 2014 till May 2016) - i know this is just an average figure and may vary, depends on the building conditions, age etc etc

and links to comparable properties
(can't post links)

with all this in mind i've done 2 valuations, based on the above and attached data:
property was bought for £111 000 (offer accepted in April 2014) + £22 200 (20% house price index) = £133 200 + £6 750 (price of solar panels) = £139 950
based on cheapest property sold in my neighborhood: £118 000 + £8 260 (7% added value - conservatory) + £6 750 (solar panels) = £133 010
i haven't added any extra value to the above calculations for 3 bedrooms being fully refurbished, neither for new fence - also i believe the prices of comparable properties are slightly lower due to location - all of them are based very closely to train rail. Also in the meantime i have fitted build in wardrobe in main bedroom and just finishing decking in the garden which will add even more value to the property.
all comparable has got lower EPC rating - mine was 63 when the house was bought on 2014. None of them has got conservatory, access to residential parking neither solar panels.
as you can see, the valuation of £115 000 done by your surveyor is way to low in my opinion as it's hard to believe i'm the owner of the only one property in this country which value has dropped down over last 2 years.


i believe that £130-£140k was fair valuation of my property - with all the work i've done over last 2 years, but see reply from them:

[FONT=&quot]Valuation appeal decision - We have now had an opportunity to review the file and the additional comparables submitted. [/FONT]



[FONT=&quot]The valuation was undertaken in accordance with the RICS Mortgage Valuation Specifications by a Colleys surveyor with experience of survey and valuation work in the local area. It was produced using comparable evidence which has been adjusted and rationalized where appropriate relative to the subject property. [/FONT]



[FONT=&quot]With regard to the comparables submitted on the form and based on the information we could link to each of them, we would comment as follows:
1) 3 Elizabeth Drive, Tamworth, B79 8DE – Better location with vehicular street access, not pedestrian only as the subject property has.
2) 43 Masefield Drive, Tamworth, B79 8BN - Better location with vehicular street access, not pedestrian only as the subject property has.
3) 39 Wordsworth Avenue, Tamworth, B79 8BZ - This is an end of terrace house which would command a higher value than a mid-terraced property.
The file has been reviewed in conjunction with the evidence provided to us in support of this appeal. There is unfortunately no justification to support an increase in the valuation.

best part of it is - all the properties used in appeal are based next to train rail and there is massive industrial estate on the other side o[FONT=&quot]f it[/FONT]...

AVOID them as u will waste ur time!!!
[/FONT]

ruggedtoast

I would cross the street to avoid Esurv.

I had a problem with my survey I wanted the surveyor to explain and it was utterly impossible to contact him. The only contact details are an email address that is not answered and the phone number for a useless, and actually quite rude, call centre.

They will just tell you they can't help you and they'll tell the surveyor to call you, which will never happen. Repeat until sale falls through.

The second time I used a website called local surveyors direct, chose the cheapest one and had an altogether better experience.

silvercar

I would get a local independent guy to do a full structural and only then pay the mortgage lender for a basic valuation.

I had problems with e-surv.

starM

My remortgage and new property valuation is booked this Thursday with e-surv. Looking through MSE and on goodle worried that they might under value the property.

The mortgage application is with Precise Mortgage. If they undervalue the property, can I get the property valued by another independent surveyors and produce the report to Precise? Will that be acceptable?

Just worried now.

Thanks

G_M

Another vote for someone local and independant. You'll get a much more personal service, and they'll be far more approachable

a) in advance, if there are specific things you want them to look at eg "how hard would it be to extens back/up/sideways?"

b) afterwards, to explain what they've written actually means, and what their opinion is that they might not be prepared to commit to writing

See

http://www.rics.org/uk/find-a-member/

Surrey_EA

starM wrote: »

My remortgage and new property valuation is booked this Thursday with e-surv. Looking through MSE and on goodle worried that they might under value the property.

The mortgage application is with Precise Mortgage. If they undervalue the property, can I get the property valued by another independent surveyors and produce the report to Precise? Will that be acceptable?

Just worried now.

Thanks

E Surv are a huge company, and carry out valuations on behalf of a large number of lenders nationwide. I have never found them to be particularly harsh in their valuations.

Each lender usually has a panel of surveyors from whom they are prepared to accept valuation reports. Should the need arise, any independent surveyor you use will need to be listed on that panel.

armchaireconomist

I used ESurv and he spent about 30 mins in property and missed blatant stuff such as 1 solitary (rotting) wooden window which report states is uPVC, and a good condition back door which the front is completely shattered on and the trim around pane hanging off.


TL;DR - can't comment on company, but bloke who inspected my property was abysmal.