Concrete property - survey refused by Colleys

freestyler

Hey guys,

I wonder what your thoughts are on this.

I am a FTB and currently applying for a mortgage from Halifax. My offer on a concrete property has been accepted and payment has already been taken for a valuation & thorough survey.

However the guy from Colleys rang me up on Friday to say that they did not do surveys on concrete properties anymore. A bit frustrating since they had already taken payment for it and must have known through my broker that the property was of this type. I have asked him to go ahead with the valuation but I am going to have to find someone else to do the more thorough survey.

Has anyone else had such an experience ? Is it going to be a lot of hassle to get back the money from Halifax ?

Many thanks

PeacefulWaters

Halifax should be able to refund the difference between valuation fee and survey fee within a few days.

freestyler

Thanks for your response. Hopefully it will be refunded soon !

I wonder if many people have had the same issue ? Are concrete properties that bad such that even the big survey firms are not prepared to inspect them ??

ClareTeaches

We had a valuation done through Colley's (but actually carried out by someone from Legal and General) on a concrete and steel frame bungalow, but got our own survey done by a local structural engineer. (Also for a Halifax mortgage.) We got the valuation back initially saying they wouldn't give a value until we'd had an invasive structural survey showing the steels were in good condition. When we returned that, they then wanted an asbestos survey to check the condition of some known asbestos elements. Then they finally gave a valuation figure.

So we never planned to get the full survey done with them, but we have found they're quite cautious about non-standard construction.

My guess would be that places like Colley's are quite busy with straightforward valuations and surveys (a lot of people on here have been having problems getting valuation appointments with the big surveyors, so perhaps they're even too busy) and so don't have the time for more complex, non-standard cases and/or don't want the hassle of them. Why do an awkward case for £700 when you could make £700 from an easy 1930s semi?

I'd get on to Halifax about your refund, just to make sure they realise they need to return it! We had some problems with communications between Colley's and Halifax.

Good luck with the house!

freestyler

Thanks a lot of your reply, much appreciated.

What would be the best way to find a surveyor who would deal with concrete properties ? Is there a recommended website or something ?

I suppose I could always google but thought I'd ask anyway

I was hoping that the Halifax survey would take care of everything, now its going to be a hassle finding a concrete property surveyor oh well !

ClareTeaches

Sorry, I'm afraid I'm not really any help on that one - my partner's an architect, so we used someone he knows through 'networking' (and here I was thinking 'networking' was just an excuse for drinking!). I'd try and get a recommendation or else look to see if there are surveyors and/or structural engineers and/or firms who are specialists in concrete.

Best of luck with it!

freestyler

No worries - just got some good ? news that the valuation has gone through successfully. Looking at the report, it states that the walls are all Bison concrete.

Any views on Bison ? He has stated some standard stuff like there is a bit of wear and tear etc..and that parts of the outbuilding has asbestos material + repair costs for the property could be higher than usual in the future.