Mortgage Offer withdrawn due to Travellors site

Doogie1972

Hi There. Never posted on here before so be kind!
My wife and are are in the process of moving house. We want to buy a bungalow that is part Woolaway construction (non standard concrete panels). At the time of initially viewing the property a planning application had been submitted to build a travellers site across the main road. We were fully aware of this and possible implications but love the property and want to proceed. We've applied to Abbey for our mortgage (we have an existing mortgage with Alliance & Leicester - same group) and after a valuation and an engineering survey that was required due to the non-standard construction we received a mortgage offer. We were just getting to the stage of discussing moving dates.
Two weeks ago the planning application for the travellor site was passed (with various conditions) so our solicitor had to notify this to Abbey. On Thursday we heard that Abbey have now withdrawn the mortgage offer due to the travellor site. We now don't know where to go - do we argue our case with Abbey to get them to change their mind or cut our losses and find another mortgage provider?

TrickyDicky101

Doogie1972 wrote: »

At the time of initially viewing the property a planning application had been submitted to build a travellers site across the main road. We were fully aware of this and possible implications but love the property and want to proceed.

Very brave of you - don't think it is something I would have pursued.

You have no basis on which to persuade Abbey - they have declined your application so your choices are to find another property or find another lender.

The presence of the travellers' site will greatly impact sale-ability of the property in the future hence why Abbey has declined.

_Andy_

I think you should cut your losses completely and find another property.

If a huge mortgage lender won't lend on it that should sound warning bells.

Never mind the fact that living near to the site is going to be a PITA.

And as said above - resale is going to be a nightmare. Nonstandard construction by a traveller site?

Seriously, find another property.

Doogie1972

Maybe I'm being naive here but surely I'm not the only person willing to live near a traveller site? The site itself will be owner occupied not a council run one. Similar sites nearby have settled in with no trouble and according to local estate agents property prices generally bounce back once the site is established (we checked). As a wheelchair user my property needs are pretty specific and I happen to live in an area with very few bungalows - even fewer family sized ones. Looking for an alternative property is not really an option. There are literally no other suitable bungalows up for sale in the area I want to live. It's either this bungalow next to travellers or not to move at all. Does anyone out there live next to travellers - and if so did you have trouble getting a mortgage?

globalds

Has the value of the property changed ?
Could you not just ask what the mortgage lender feels is the new value and then offer that ?
means you get the house you want for less ?

Doogie1972

The property price has gone down. The bungalow did go SSTC some time ago that fell through. Then when we offered it was less as that was after the travellers site application was submitted we know our offer was £35k less than the previous one. Abbey have said they are sending a revised valuation - but we haven't received that yet. We are able to put a substantial deposit into this property (about 30%) so the loan from Abbey should be easily covered if anything were to go wrong In future.

ACG

What is the loan to value?

There will be lenders who will do this, but theyre obscure lenders not on the high street. That doesnt mean a high street lender will not do this, but it will come down to valuers comments.

If the property is the one for you and you have a decent enough deposit, you can get in touch with a broker to speak to a specialist lender.

Doogie1972

The sale price is £305k for the bungalow. We're asking Abbey for £210k. We have a independent financial advisor who can help us search the market but as its Bank Holiday nothing can really be done 'til Tues anyway. We hoped we wouldn't have to use a specialist lender as that will be more expensive probably but it's looking like we may have no choice.

TrickyDicky101

I would wait on Abbey coming back with their revised offer and use that to justify the reduction in the price you are willing to pay - the vendors will know that the presence of the travelers' site is going to massively hit the marketability of their property (irrespective of what EAs claim when trying to land business/sell a property - which should be taken with a pinch of salt). If they refuse to budge, their next potential buyer will face exactly the same issue as you.

kingstreet

Does the surveyor still feel the property is suitable security for a mortgage?

TrickyDicky101

kingstreet wrote: »

Does the surveyor still feel the property is suitable security for a mortgage?

If Abbey is sending a revised valuation (per OP post #6) then presumably they do still consider it mortgageable.