NatWest valuation delays

Moonraker71

Hi, just wondering if anyone has any recent experiences to share re: length of time to get a NatWest valuation.

I've had a mortgage offer subject to valuation, and been told by my broker the valuation has been instructed - this was five days ago. Phoned up today to chase, as no money taken off my card yet and no other info, and told that due to London and South East delays, no date has been set yet and may be SIX WEEKS before they can do it.

I know there are delays down here - I've been hearing 2-4 weeks as a max, but 6 wks seems ludicrous. Is this normal or should I be pushing this? So frustrating. They need to employ more staff!

kingstreet

They "panel" valuation work out to firms of surveyors. If they are having problems it's because there just isn't the amount of capacity there was five years ago

Moonraker71

Thx. Do you know who they use? Wondering if it's lots of different firms or just a handful. My friends, at same stage of process of me, are using Colleys via Halifax, with a 3 week delay which has caused no end of issues in their chain. Am terrified 6 wks will just be unacceptable to my buyer, who already waited over a month for me to find somewhere after I accepted his offer. Am assuming no amount of foot-stamping will make any difference here? Or no kind of 'expediency fee' available? Clutching at straws, I know....

Senior_Paper_Monitor

As Kingstreet has already advised ...

There are a number of bottlenecks at the moment:

1) some of the most competitive lenders (and some of the usual culprits ie Leeds and Newcastle) are stacking work up to the ceiling

2) valuations in some parts of the country have huge booking and availability delays

3) and if our office is anything to go by - brokers are struggling with demand at the moment


When the pressure is on like this the only practical action is to rotate the work in strict order - so no queue jumping.

There are only a handful (if that) of panels and they use a myriad of subcontractors (from one man bands to fairly large firms) and the resources are limited.

kingstreet

Nothing you can do. They tend to panel to one of the big firms, such as Allied, E-Surv or Countrywide.

If they don't have capacity it would then normally be farmed out to one of the independents in the area.

Trouble is, in some areas everyone is busy. There are simply not enough bodies on the ground to get the job done.

Moonraker71

OK. Thanks. I'm just really worried because my buyer came round for another look last week, and asked me when I was getting my survey done on the place I'm buying. When I said it might not be for another 2 wks his eyes nearly popped out his head. 3 x that long and I think he'll have a coronary. But what can you do...

kingstreet

Put it this way, no-one else is in any better position, unless they have a DeLorean, of course!

Senior_Paper_Monitor

..... and that includes your buyer when he starts his mortgage application.

My guess is that processing delays are going to be the hot topic of these (and other forums) in a couple of weeks and for a few months to come.

AND I'll have to put up with a few more whinging estate agents (and their nonsense statements to our clients) !

Moonraker71

My uncle has a DeLorean, I might ask if I can borrow it He lives in Australia though...

Think you're right, SPM. Trouble is my buyer has already has already got his offer, his survey was done on my place about 2 wks ago. He is super keen, had it all arranged and paid for before I'd even found anywhere to buy which was v risky strategy in my view, but now means he is sitting there waiting impatiently in the wings.

Still, if he pulls out of this deal then he'll only be back to square one I suppose. Will console myself with that thought..

Senior_Paper_Monitor

What's worse is he'll now 'know' you are lying 'cos he got his done in 2 weeks and he's an expert now

reapz69

Moonraker71 wrote: »

Hi, just wondering if anyone has any recent experiences to share re: length of time to get a NatWest valuation.

I've had a mortgage offer subject to valuation, and been told by my broker the valuation has been instructed - this was five days ago. Phoned up today to chase, as no money taken off my card yet and no other info, and told that due to London and South East delays, no date has been set yet and may be SIX WEEKS before they can do it.

I know there are delays down here - I've been hearing 2-4 weeks as a max, but 6 wks seems ludicrous. Is this normal or should I be pushing this? So frustrating. They need to employ more staff!

Mine took 2 weeks from coming back from underwriters,
offer in the post 2 days after


If anything the survey may take a while but the offer will be speedy if there is no issues with the survey