Unprofessional and Rude Surveyor

ExpertAdvice

Hi All,

I applied for a Mortgage for one of my clients with Halifax. The Colleys surveyor went and was quite rude as per the seller and was asking irrelevant questions such as which country are the buyers from?
-How long was the property on market for?
-Where are you moving too and why?
-'Oh There is extension, I have to think about that'
-'This is the most expensive survey i have done'

The homeowners got quite agitated with his behavior and said that they would complaint against this guy (not directly to him). They suspected that he will probably quote incorrect figure on the survey report due to his unprofessional and rude behavior and that's exactly what he did. The property was up for £335k and he valued it at £295K in West London (Hayes Area). The property prices are that much around that area. Moreover, survey was done by Abbey about 2 weeks ago for another buyer (his mortgage didn't go through for some reason) and they valued it at £335K.

I have never experienced this before and that's why I'm posting to see if anyone else has had such experience.

I'm planning to give my BDM for Halifax a ring first thing tomorrow morning to discuss but I'm suspecting that it may not make much difference. They might agree to re survey but charge another £500 for it and the result could be the same!!!

Any thoughts???

Really appreciate your time.

hcb42

the questions don't seem that unusual? Certainly two of them are just chit chat, one is a comment, and I dont understand the last one, £335K is hardly an expensive property in the scheme of SE properties...?

somethingcorporate

10% is hardly a significant valuation variance either, I suggest you may need to try a different lender.

holly_hobby

Well its really for the Vendor to be arguing the point on the survey valuation, for your client (who I imagine is your concern) its an opportunity for them to re-negotiate the agreed pch price - so I would suggest the valuation problem is the vendors, not your clients.

Thats assuming of course that you're not an EA based mge adviser, whom are also selling the property, which may cloud the issue somewhat ....

TBH Colleys have always been known to be "conservative", and IMHO and experience are really best avoided where LTVs are tight, or the asking price is optimistic.

If its being considered that your clients (the purchasers) may want to trapse the mortgage market, testing alternative lenders and survey results until it values up, this will (as you know) not gte an increase to the current fig, but if your clients continue to apply in a (perhaps vain search) of someone who'll value up to the current pch price, will start building a raft of credit checks that won't do them any favours at all. (even if they apply to Santander and a survey is done on their behalf, this does not gte that it will be valued as previously or reqd, esp if a different surveyor attends).

The most obvious route for your clients, is to go back to the vendor or their EA, and set about re-negotiation discussions to reflect the survey findings, or consider their options if the vendor won't budge.

From the Vendors point of view, and if your BDM can get the surveyor to agree to a review, they could look to obtain and submit comparibles of recent (last 6 mth) sale figs for the area and similar propety spec - but this really isn't your role, your primary mandate is to assist the purchaser (your Clients), and paying over the odds isn't one of them (even if you are the in-house EA adviser), unless of course you're doing the mortgages for both parties, where one has a direct impact on the other :cool: !!.


Good luck ... wish you well

Hope this helps

Holly x

Road_Hog

ExpertAdvice wrote: »

and was asking irrelevant questions such as which country are the buyers from?
-How long was the property on market for?
-Where are you moving too and why?
-'Oh There is extension, I have to think about that'
-'This is the most expensive survey i have done'

None of this is irrelevant. I have highlighted one particular question.

Now, you may think that this question is racist, but there are very big cultural differences in business, and it is very important to know/understand this.

How you deal with a business transaction will depend very much on your culture and any subtle differences have to be understood.

So, yes, I'd be interested to know the country and culture. For example, in the West, we believe in win-win negotiations, whereas in China they only believe in win-lose negotiations.

I suspect that you're not indigenous British if you don't understand that.

Wh05apk

Road_Hog wrote: »

None of this is irrelevant. I have highlighted one particular question.

Now, you may think that this question is racist, but there are very big cultural differences in business, and it is very important to know/understand this.

How you deal with a business transaction will depend very much on your culture and any subtle differences have to be understood.

So, yes, I'd be interested to know the country and culture. For example, in the West, we believe in win-win negotiations, whereas in China they only believe in win-lose negotiations.

I suspect that you're not indigenous British if you don't understand that.

The question other than conversational is irrelevant to the valuation, the valuation should reflect a true resale price in the area in question, it should not be dependent on which country the purchaser is from.

holly_hobby

Wh05apk wrote: »

The question other than conversational is irrelevant to the valuation, the valuation should reflect a true resale price in the area in question, it should not be dependent on which country the purchaser is from.

Because to do so would be clearly classed as discrimination, racial or otherwise - which I very much doubt was the surveyors motive for nosiness here.

Hope this helps

H x

ExpertAdvice

Just received a message from the Sellers. Some more comments made by the surveyor: -

- Comments made - This is a small foot plate ! ( house has been extended ) !
- Will have to think about this one !
- It's the most expensive survey I've done !

What would you say about these?

holly_hobby

ExpertAdvice wrote: »

Just received a message from the Sellers. Some more comments made by the surveyor: -

- Comments made - This is a small foot plate ! ( house has been extended ) !
- Will have to think about this one !
- It's the most expensive survey I've done !

What would you say about these?

Not much, and exactly what I said in my first post ...

This is a fight for the Vendors, why are they involving you in trying to increase the valuation of the property, when it isn't for the benefit of your clients (the purchasers)?

Why haven't you advised your clients to re-negotiate with the Vendors on the agreed sale price ?

Is there a conflict of interest here ... i.e you are acting for both parties (re mge sales), and your EA is also the selling agent for the Vendor ?

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but your loyalty is to the purchasers in this case - not helping the vendor achieve a sale price that may not be realistic, and may immediately effect the LTV/free equity of your clients (evidenced on re-sale or remortgage), if overvalued at this juncture.

There's only 1 side of the fence you should be on, which I understand may be difficult for you, if you're also sat in the selling EA whom pay your wages (been there, many yrs ago, so do understand the quandry if this is the case, and why I've made the comments I have ).

Hope this helps

Holly x

dunstonh

ExpertAdvice wrote: »

Just received a message from the Sellers. Some more comments made by the surveyor: -

- Comments made - This is a small foot plate ! ( house has been extended ) !
- Will have to think about this one !
- It's the most expensive survey I've done !

What would you say about these?

I dont think anything about them. I think the vendors are being too sensitive. Perhaps they have something to hide and are desperately trying to make sure its not found or they are just paranoid.

ExpertAdvice

Thanks for your replies.

I'm not acting on behalf of both parties and neither am I EA based broker.

My interest is only on the buyer side. The problem is that they are not budging from the original price and seller, buyer and EA are 101% convinced that it is the right price for the property especially when it has been valued at that price by Abbey. I have also compared prices with some other properties in the same area and that seems to be the correct price.

My loyalty is for buyers as they really love the house and are happy to pay the price and don't want to lose the sale. They already lost one house as the seller pulled out lat minute as they received higher offer.

Anyways, I have escalated the case to my BDM as he suggested. Lets see what happens. No harm in trying. I will post here once we have the result .

Thanks everyone.