Essential Work for Mortgage Purposes - Or not?

Nelly321

Recently had a survey & valuation on a property we are buying, valuation came back £1,000 less and the surveyor recommended a retention of the same amount.
The lender did not retain the £1,000 due to it being less than £2,000 - Happy days!
And we have also received our mortgage offer for the full amount!

Now for the funny bit... on the valuation report the lender received it has a section stating Specialist reports considered essential for mortgage purposes - Timber/Damp and then some essential repairs such as pointing the chimney & fixing rainwater fittings etc.

The question is... does any of this need to be done before the purchase or can we get the report/work done once we have the property?

We are quite happy to have the damp sorted ourselves to save hassle and time trying to renegotiate especially when the valuation takes into account these issues.

Thanks

eddddy

I guess you should wait to see what the lender requires you to do.

When I bought a property where the valuer identified "essential repairs", the lender required me to sign an undertaking to get them done within 6 months of completion. But there was no retention.

I did them, but nobody ever checked or even mentioned them again.

Nelly321

Thanks edddy, did they contact you regarding this clause? We have already had our mortgage offer and we haven't been asked.

I'm planning to ring them tomorrow to get a definite answer as to whether these 'essential reports/repairs' need to be done within a specific time frame etc.

They have already told me that they won't be reinspecting the property.

boltneck123

Hi,

I had to agree to carry out damp proofing works, these have to be completed three months after completion. It has been about 6 weeks since I took possession of the property. Quickly ascertained that they want doing does not need to be done and the problems can be remedied by my self and help from family.

No one has sent me a letter to say, please ensure you keep to the agreement and contact us soon to let us know what is happening etc etc, nothing like that.

So I am not going to even bother talking to the bank, I will give it three months and see if they contact me. Obviously if they do, I will respond. I am documenting all my remedial repairs so i can give evidence if they need it.

Nelly321

Thanks bolt,

Sounds like I will be able to get the work done after completion then! Not worried about needing to prove it as we are genuinely going to fix the issues, I just didn't want to have to belly ache to the seller and end up losing the property.

And given that they have sent the mortgage offer it doesn't seem like they are too bothered