Am I entitled to a valuation refund?

Konrat

OK, so this is a bit of a complicated story.

I went to my bank and asked for a mortgage. They effectively said no problem, credit checks were fine so I paid my money for a valuation. The next day, they tell me that I couldn't have this mortgage so they withdrew their offer and gave me a refund of all the fees I paid. Fair enough. I then realised that they had carried out a valuation at my property anyway but of course, was not billed for it.

A few months passed, and I decided to try my bank again for this mortgage. A new application was made and I was accepted again. I paid my fees and waited to be told about valuation. The bank then tells me valuation was ok - great!

I then got a letter through the post basically stating that they didn't carry out a new valuation and just used the one from a few months ago. I asked for a refund but they refused, saying that I never paid valuation to begin with. My argument is that I was led to believe that the fees will be spent on another valuation and since they were not, it is not up to me to cover their previous erroneous valuation.

Legally, where do I stand? Is it a reasonable request?

Let_Us_See

You paid for and have received one valuation. Stop moaning and move on.

Thrugelmir

The bank has had to have paid a third party to obtain the valuation. So only right that they recover the cost.

Also was their decision whether to use the existing valuation or obtain a new one.

Neither are you out of pocket.

mrginge

'I paid for something and received it. Can I get my money back?'
Unbelievable.

holly_hobby

A valuation is usually valid for 6 months, and where a basic survey is conducted, is for the benefit of the lender.

It appears they were happy to utilise the existing survey on file (which was not paid for by you), which if less than 6 mths old is perfectly ok, but you are unhappy that they have not specifically used your survey fee to actually instruct a further attended valuation in respect of your subequent application - which is only for their benefit anyway.

So, can I get this right, you want this survey fee refunded too - so in essence you end up with a free survey ?

And if not, you want as a matter of principle, for. a surveyor to take a trip round the property and give his upto date valuation (which may be lower than the one being utilised, and may affect qualifying products).

If the lender were clever they would have said that your survey fee paid, met the admin fees of reviewing the previous survey, and permittingt its use - thereby taking the wind out of this.

Holly

Konrat

I know it sounds greedy but the fact is, if I had not returned to my bank for a second mortgage application, they would not in effect be able to recoup the costs. They had wasted my time by dragging out the application, telling me it was fine, taking my money and then all of a sudden turning round to say no. This was of no fault of my own.

Their disorganization is reflected in the fact that they couldn't even cancel the valuation after everything seemed to be in order.

Under normal circumstances, I am more than happy to pay a fair valuation fee. The fact that I have paid for a glaring administrative error on their part is what irks me.

Konrat

holly_hobby wrote: »

A valuation is usually valid for 6 months, and where a basic survey is conducted, is for the benefit of the lender.

It appears they were happy to utilise the existing survey on file (which was not paid for by you), which if less than 6 mths old is perfectly ok, but you are unhappy that they have not specifically used your survey fee to actually instruct a further attended valuation in respect of your subequent application - which is only for their benefit anyway.

So, can I get this right, you want this survey fee refunded too - so in essence you end up with a free survey ?

And if not, you want as a matter of principle, for. a surveyor to take a trip round the property and give his upto date valuation (which may be lower than the one being utilised, and may affect qualifying products).

If the lender were clever they would have said that your survey fee paid, met the admin fees of reviewing the previous survey, and permittingt its use - thereby taking the wind out of this.

Holly

That's pretty much it. I don't think it's unreasonable but the consensus on the forum seems to believe I'm just being greedy. The money is not being used as intended - I was led to believe a new valuation was to be carried out.

Thrugelmir

Konrat wrote: »

The fact that I have paid for a glaring administrative error on their part is what irks me.

You've paid the correct fee. Thats fact.

Any personal view of the bank has no bearing on the matter. You were obviously happy to return them and give them your business.

Suggest you move on. As there's no substance.

holly_hobby

Konrat wrote: »

That's pretty much it. I don't think it's unreasonable but the consensus on the forum seems to believe I'm just being greedy. The money is not being used as intended - I was led to believe a new valuation was to be carried out.

If you had gone to another lender, you would have submitted your application & survey fee, and (all things being equal) recd your offer.

In this case, you submitted your application, survey fee, and will receive your offer.

You haven't lost out, been ripped off, shafted, deceived, or robbed - you have paid the fees due for the processing of your application.

The lender had a survey on file, for your first application that failed [- so charged you no fee.

The lender chose to use that survey in support of your subsequent application, which was successful - your arugment is coming across a little churlish, in that you are claiming that you shouldn't have incurred a survey fee (essentially getting a free survey), simply because a survey (which incidentally you hadn't paid for) was already held on file by the lender. You should consider that if your 1st application had proceeded through to offer, you would have incurred and paid that fee at the time - so essentiallty you are none the worse off, in fact you have suffered no monetary disadvantage by their actions (in fact using the existing survey will have speeded things up greatly).

So to conclude, there really is no merit to any of the arugment presented, and even if you pursued this all the way to FOS - they would reject it based on the above.

My best advice would be for you to move on from this, which I know you may find disappointing, but nevertheless relevant.

Hope this helps

Holly