help! survey valuation less than our offer

crashd_3

Classic house buying problem, especially in London!

We viewed a property that we love on an EA "open day". 35 people turned up(!!!). There's been a very slow market in this sector and we're eager to buy somewhere this year.

Put in an offer at asking price and got accepted with various conditions. Vendor wants quick sale so we organised mortgage and got our valuation and survey booked.

Survey comes back and it has 2 figures on it, one is 30k less than the other. I phone surveyors office and they say the higher figure is correct so I soldier on, with promise of new copy of homebuyer report.. Finally hear back from the surveyor and, wait a minute, turns out he changed his mind and now thinks it's the lower figure. Still no sign of new copy of homebuyer report.

Waiting for the building society we booked the mortgage through but a bit dissapointed. What options do we realistically have? We got the EA to send through comparables from the area but, typically, are all under offers or for sale adverts, not actual completed sales.

Difference between offer price and valuation is about 6.5%, is this a reasonable amount to negotiate down to?

Ciderarmy1987

Homebuyers report will always have 2 figures on, one is the market value of the house and will either be the same as your offer or lower. The second figure is the reinstatement value and is cost to rebuild the house if it burnt down etc. This is usually below market value but can be higher in certain cases such as a terrace house etc. This second figure is the amount that you have to make sure that your building insurance will cover as a minimum.

I would imagine that the surveyor has valued the market value of your house as the same as your offer and you have nothing to worry about

crashd_3

Hi Ciderarmy1987,

The valuation has, in fact, THREE figures. 2 conflicting figures for the "market value" and the other one is the reinstatement cost.

The surveyors office (ie: secretary of other surveyor) told us it was the higher market value figure, the actual surveyor told us, no, it's the low figure which he changed after 'getting back to the office and thinking about it'.

Pretty pained either way, don't want to lose the property but don't want to be taken for a ride. We're first time buyers and, I have to say, it's one of the worst experiences i've had buying anything of high value. Why isn't this industry regulated?

Ciderarmy1987

To me that seems extremely unprofessional to be honest, I would be saying that I want it sorted in ASAP and a new document sent out with correct information on, as it is such an important document. It would probably also writing a letter of complaint detailing how unhappy you are with the service that has been provided to you