False information from mortgage company

OliviaandGav

I am a first time buyer and have recently received the mortgage offer....thank goodness.

i would like to say it has been an easy experience due to my position as a first time buyer and there beig no upper chain.

However, the lenders I so unwisely chose have tken it upon themselves to make it as difficult as possible. I wont go into the finer details because they are all now in the past and I will put it down to a bad experience and a lesson learned. I am however askinf for advive on the last little spot of bad service they gave me.

As the house I am buying is reasonably old circs 1850 I wanted a Homebuyers survey. The lenders offered a free valuation as part of the deal, and so I was to pay the difference (£200) to upgrade. However the surveyor could not conduct the survey due to the stringent guidlines set out by the lender. Therefore the survey was cancelled. I was then informed by the lender that I would require a Full structural survey which i had to arrange myself by a company recommended by the lender through a sub-siduary company. Once his had ben done and I hadpaid my money to the surveyore I contacted the lender to aske whether I had to forward on a copy of the survey. I was told by a manager that th structural survey was for my information only and that they only require a valuation survey.

I found myself considerably out of pocket and getting nowhere with the lenders. Having spoken to at least 10 of the lenders staff, including three 'managers' i have hit a brick wall.

Please can anyone tell me where I stand on this? Or has anyone else had a similar experience to me?

I look forward to receiving any replies

regards

Gav

ratty630

If you have in writing that you would require a full structural survey and of course written statement that you actually only needed a valuation survey,

You have the option of going into court with a view to "Vicarious Liability".

This is basically that an employer can be held liable for the actions of his employees.

If you can show that you have been misled by 1 or more (preferably more) of the lenders emplyees, then it would show to the court that the employer either failed to Train his employees properly OR that the employer Condones the practice (possibly for monetary gain).

Take All the paperwork you have on it to you local CAB if they then think you've been screwed they will tell you a good solicitor to call.

silvercar

I think the advice you were given is totally reasonable.

Fact: You expressed interest in a homebuyers report; the surveyor told you this was not possible.
Agree. On a property of that age a homebuyers report is too restrictive to be meaningful. Any surveyor would tell you the same.

Fact: Lender only required valuation not full survey. Lenders are only interested in knowing they have security for their money, so quite true. (Though if the valuation had shown anything very dodgy, they would have asked you to obtain further reports).

Fact: Lender told you to do your own structural survey. You had already expressed an intention to go beyond the valuation and have a homebuyers report. As a homebuyer's report was not possible it is logical to suggest you arrange a full survey.

Fact: Lender does valuation and tells you to arrange your own structural survey. Standard practice, lenders can arrange valuations, they can also sort out surveyors doing homebuyers reports at the same time. They don't as a rule get involved with structural surveys. I had to arrange my own separately.

You have bought a very old property and having a structural survey is good advice, I don't really know what you can complain about. If you saying that you are saying that you wouldn't have had the survey if the lender said it wasn't necessary, the lender will point to the fact that you wanted a homebuyer's report. The only thing you pay be able to complain about is that you felt directed to go with the surveyor recommended by the lender rather than choose your own. We don't know whether this has actually cost you more.

At the end of the day you now have the house you wanted with the benefit of a structural survey. Enjoy it!