HSBC and countrywide help

kind_at_heart

hello forums

I would like to thank you in advance for taking the time to read this long and boring post, me and my partner have come stuck and are unsure in which way to proceed to remortgage and gain funds that we desperately need to restore a property that my partner has inherited with her brother.

the property has not been lived in for several years, which has sadly resulted in in the property requiring some work to be restored to a habitable condition.

the house is a 1970s 3 bedroom detached dormer bungalow, in a rural village with house prices circa 200-220 k for a similar build in good condition,

before we approached HSBC we had a valuer value the property at its current condition at 130k he advised of work to be carried out at the region of 80k with professional trades doing all the work to a good standard.

the house needs new electrics, glazing, kitchen, bathroom, flooring, plastering in some rooms, and a new flat roof, along with all the other fixtures and fittings

at the moment it has all of the above, as i was told by HSBC it needs a plumbed in bathroom and kitchen to meet mortgage requirements which it has

we approached HSBC to discuss a remortgage to carry out the repair work needed to restore so that me and my partner could live there, we advised our mortgage manager from the first meeting that the house had not been lived in for several years and that the flat roof was leaking which has resulted in some water damage to the property and that the flat roof would need replacing at a cost of 6k, we also told her exactly what work was needed to be done and that the house is not habitable as it is and we would be living with the in laws until the property was finished. we went through the whole process and credit checks where done and all was ok and approved.

three months this has taken from our first meeting and we finally had countrywide come out to valuate the building to make sure the property was at the market value of 120k as we can only borrow 80 percent for the remedial work and to pay off her brother his share of the building,

however the surveyor has deemed the property unsuitable for mortgage purposes and valued the property at 0, he added notes to say this property may not be suitable as security to other mainstream lenders due to water damage and poor condition of the property.

this has naturally infuriated myself and my partner as we know, and hsbc know, the property is in poor condition which is why we are remortgaging to begin with. the surveyor is rics qulified but i feel he is not very good at his job,

why? he has not advised of any repairs that could be done to get the house suitable for a mortgage, he has also advised its a 4 bedroom bungalow but its a 3 bedroom bungalow.
i did not meet him in person as we left the keys outside for him to let himself in. i am wondering if he even entered the property as he would have seen it only had 3 bedrooms, this is irrelevant i know for the bank but it is still incorrect information, if he can get this wrong then his opinion is not very professional.

i called the bank and i am not getting any help to resolve this mortgage, they don't know how to help me get any further with the mortgage so have left it open.

i called an independent surveyor who was very helpful, he said that the bank should have given me a retention loan to rectify the roof, as its the flat roof that is at fault and not the pitched roof as this is watertight. so he is willing to come out at 180 pounds to do a homebuyers check to tell me what i need to do to get it to a suitable condition for a mortgage, but what is the point if he already thinks it is suitable already,

HSBC wont use a different surveyor and are sticking with countrywide, a quick google search on countrywide was shocking and concerning due to such poor reviews, don't know why they are using them they must be loosing them money.


i don't know whats the best way to go forward, being with HSBC we have a good mortgage offer at just under 4 percent,

if we switch lender we have to go through the whole process again and pay a higher fee.

winter is coming up and we need to replace the roof but without funds we are stuck, if we take out a personal loan there is risk of not meeting credit checks again.

would a temporary repair be sufficient on the roof? my uncle is a roofer but is now disabled but he can instruct me in how to repair it, i have done a couple of flatroofs with him many years ago and feel confident in repairing it to last through winter, we can then dry the house out with industrial dehumidifiers.

as the water damage was the surveyor main concern would HSBC then be willing to re valuate and grant the mortgage?

i don't feel confident in having countrywide come out to survey the house but if HSBC use them it might be best to ask them to come round to inform us what is the best way to go forward? is it worth the cost of getting them out? we did receive a copy of the surveyors report that was meant for HSBC which somehow should not have been sent to me.

so yea kinda stuck but i know we will get there somehow, but if anyone has any ideas i would love to here them, i might be going over the top on this but as first time buyers i think the bank should be helping us more, instead of scratching my head having to come and ask on a forum, after all they are the ones trying to get our buisness.

tempted to ditch them and go to halifax.:D

Thrugelmir

kind_at_heart wrote: »

this has naturally infuriated myself and my partner as we know, and hsbc know, the property is in poor condition which is why we are remortgaging to begin with. the surveyor is rics qulified but i feel he is not very good at his job,

why? he has not advised of any repairs that could be done to get the house suitable for a mortgage,

The surveyor knows his job very well as is working for the HSBC not you. The report is for the purposes of the bank lending money nothing else. In addition the surveyor will follow the instructions of their client.

kind_at_heart

thanks for your reply, i am sure he does know his job very well,but that little cupboard under the stairs must be the fourth bedroom? and i guess the surveyor i spoke to yesterday does not know his job
then? saying it should have been put through as a retention loan.

just check out countrywide on google, they have really bad reviews, it does not fill you with much confidence does it. the day the surveyor was due out i called to see that he had been to the property, call center staff called him to check, they replied oh sorry sir the surveyor could not find the key to the property, i told them when i booked that if there was issues to call my mobile number which i left with them, did i get that call, hell no. she said he was going to go back but i doubt very much he did, but this is not the matter in hand, i have already raised a complaint to customer services on this which is being delt with


are you saying that i should get the countrywide surveyor out myself to look at the property? so he can advise me on what i would need to do for HSBC to accept it as a suitable house for the loan? as we assumed we met hsbc criteria the mortgage manager was aware of the extent of the damage but never questioned it at all and i fell like 3 months have been wasted on something that could have been delt with months before