Skipton's Mortgage Nightmare

Halude

Hello all,

Im currently going through the process of buying my first home, i thought i would like to share my problems with Skipton's Building society,

I have bought a house through W H Brown estate agent, they told me the best deal at the moment was through Skiptons building society, in this deal we was told we get a "free" survey on the property,

Please be aware this is not worth the paper it is written on, please do not rely on them to provide any detailed reports on the property,

the feedback my agent got from him when he went around the house was the roof purlins need a specialist to look at them, going on this feedback, i arranged for my roofer to go in and do a report and quote for the job to be put right,

1 week later the report still had not been written up and when chasing the report we were only told about the purlins, which we had addressed

2 week's later the report has been compiled and now they are saying that there is movement in the property and may be progressive, which they could not pinpoint the problem, the feedback i received when asking where in the property this was, the skiptons representative said "everywhere" and that i would need to get a full building survey for the mortgage company to progress forward,

so now i have organised a full survey on the house which i wished i did this 3 weeks ago, to stop the waste of valuable time via skipton,

My advice to anyone who is looking into mortgages at the moment, and are thinking of the skipton's please do not even think you are getting a good deal you are not!!

the report was very vague and a waste of paper, i would urge you to source your own verified surveyor and save you valuable time

ACG

I use Skipton all the time, 6-7 cases this year with them.

I think your frustration is misguided. Firstly they did have a deal which included a free valuation... this is different to a survey. So its your broker that has given you the wrong info or you have misunderstood.

Secondly, its Connells who do the valuation or survey on behalf of Skipton not Skipton themselves. You have had a free valuation that does not include anything more thorough than a basic look around. This would be the case no matter which lender you used free or not.

If something is picked up in the valuation, sometimes the surveyor will recommend either a more in depth survey is carried out or a more specific survey (ie Damp report or damp and timber report).

The valuation is vague, its just valuing the property and letting you know whether there may be any major issues.

You will always have to use the lenders valuer for the basic survey at the very least, you can use their surveyor for a homebuyers report/building survey or your own if you wish but the valuation is carried out primarily for the lenders benefit.

Halude

yes i have been misguided in this process, and have wasted 3 weeks of my time, if i had know this was only a valuation survey i would of organised my own surveyor to go in from day 1,

i would like to use this experience to help others that are going through the first time buying a house process, i had 0 people around me to advise me, i wouldnt like any other person in the same boat to waste time like i have had to do,

GolfFoxtrot

ACG wrote: »

Secondly, its Connells who do the valuation or survey on behalf of Skipton not Skipton themselves.
.

Do they always use Connells?

I'm in the middle of a Skipton application and whilst I'm finding it a slow process they've been OK with me so far. My survey is booked for next week and hopefully it's a smooth process.

ACG

Yes, connells then dish it out to someone local.

Dont worry, i use Skipton more than any other lender and have never had a problem with them. Thats not to say issues never arise with the property but thats not Skiptons or connells fault it would happen no matter which lender/surveyor were used. Their process has always been quick and efficient.

The problem the OP has is that he obviously wanted something more in depth than a basic valuation. It looks like it was never picked up or discussed or there was a miscommunication somewhere in the process.

Dave_Ham

Echo above, I like Skipton too and they are easy to deal with but......

.... to be fair on average in the last 18 months, I have seen more issues and requests come after their valuations more than the average lender.

May just be coincidence but hey ho

Halude

thank you for your comments, it seems ive drawn the short straw in having one of those annoying house buy, altho it has been a massive learning curve,

going forward on my next property i know now what i need to do,

iazcac

Skipton own Connells so not surprising that they put all their valuations through here rather than a competitor!

ethank

WH Brown is part of Sequence, which is part of Connells Group, which guess what, is part of Skipton

Thrugelmir

Halude wrote: »

yes i have been misguided in this process, and have wasted 3 weeks of my time, if i had know this was only a valuation survey i would of organised my own surveyor to go in from day 1,

The lender will appoint their own valuer in any event.

You could have paid more and received either a homebuyers report or full structual survey. Choice was yours at the outset. As you saw the property, no one else.

kingstreet

Under no circumstances should the lender's "mortgage report & valuation" be described as a survey.

It is not a survey by any measure.

Most lenders want a mortgage report & valuation. Sometimes it's at the applicant's expense, sometimes at the lender's.

It is never, ever, a survey prepared for the borrower and cannot be relied upon in any way by the borrower.

Anyone using the term "survey" to describe what the lender requires is potentially misleading, or being misled.

It's one of my pet peeves on here. The expression "mortgage survey" should never be used.