Scotland-can a buyer request the seller gets a refresh home report?

ellie27

I am a potential buyer.

The home report of the property I am interested in is now over 15 weeks old.

In that time there has been a recent sale, now showing as a sold price, and this a comparable house on the same street. Taking this sale into account I do believe that if the seller were to just put his home on the market now the valuation could be as much as £20,000 lower than the valuation on the current home report.

Can I request that the seller gets a refresh home report?

My hubby says they dont have to, in fact they will not want to as it could lower the valuation resulting in them not getting as much money for the house!

The house has been on the market 3.5 months.

The offers over price of the house has itself been reduced by £16,000.

I have put in 2 offers on this property, both rejected, so I am interested in the house.

Any advice, thanks!

davidmcn

You can request it, but it's usually by means of a conditional offer (because your lender requires an up to date home report showing that the price hasn't fallen).

And I think the surveyor would need wider evidence that prices have fallen in order to amend the value.

bris

The value of the house will be what the valuer says it is when you put in an offer. Home reports mean nothing, just another piece of red tape that is a waste of time. You should never go on the value of the home report.

If the house is to expensive it will soon become apparent, it's worth what someone is willing to pay.

ali-t

I last bought and sold a house in Scotland 2 years ago and my house had been on 13 weeks and had to have the home report updated. The buyers mortgage company would not progress unless the home report was 12 weeks old or less. I had the same issue with the house I was buying and they had to get a new one done.


You may find the same when it comes to the point of securing a mortgage to take things forward.

ellie27

davidmcn wrote: »

You can request it, but it's usually by means of a conditional offer (because your lender requires an up to date home report showing that the price hasn't fallen).

And I think the surveyor would need wider evidence that prices have fallen in order to amend the value.

We do think the home is over-valued. The valuation on the home report is £265k. I think this figure has come about as simply the average of the last 2 similar houses in the street - sold for £270k in 2009 and £257k in 2010.

There have been no house sales in the last 4 years....until July this year - almost identical house on same street sold for £230k.

My thinking is since it appears that the valuation is a simple average of last 2 homes sold that could this mean that should an update/new home report be carried out then the mortgage valuation could easily drop with this new sale price available? eg if they took the average of last 2 homes sold now it would be £243k (a £20k drop!!) even the average of the last 3 sales would make still make a big difference.

Should the surveyors home report valuation be simply the average of the last 2 sales that were 5 years ago? I thought it was supposed to be a current market valuation?

davidmcn

ellie27 wrote: »

Should the surveyors home report valuation be simply the average of the last 2 sales that were 5 years ago? I thought it was supposed to be a current market valuation?

It is a current market valuation, and recent similar properties are the best evidence, but it's not an exact science. Given the age of the previous sales it's likely the surveyor has had to look further afield for comparables.

The sellers aren't going to assist you by getting a home report with a lower valuation. If you think you have good evidence for the house being overvalued then by all means point it out to them to justify your offer.

agrinnall

You can request one and I'm pretty sure their estate agents would want pressure them to get the refresh done (it's only £100 or so), even though the legislation specifically states that the HR has no predetermined lifetime. However, I would be very surprised if the surveyor altered his valuation after such a short period, regardless of what else has happened in the meantime.

googler

ellie27 wrote: »

The home report of the property I am interested in is now over 15 weeks old.

In that time there has been a recent sale, now showing as a sold price, and this a comparable house on the same street. Taking this sale into account I do believe ....

Can I request that the seller gets a refresh home report?

Yes. But your lender will insist on one anyway, as the Council of Mortgage Lenders has advised their members to insist that any HR over 12 weeks old is refreshed before advancing monies to you. So there's little point in you asking. The seller is under no obligation to refresh the HR merely upon you asking for it.


My hubby says they dont have to

He is correct. There is no legal obligation upon the seller to provide a refreshed HR in any circumstance, however, due to the actions of the CML, they are typically obliged to do so when in receipt of an offer.

, in fact they will not want to as it could lower the valuation resulting in them not getting as much money for the house!

The house has been on the market 3.5 months.

The offers over price of the house has itself been reduced by £16,000.

I have put in 2 offers on this property, both rejected, so I am interested in the house.

Any advice, thanks!

Once your offer has been accepted, then you can realistically argue with the seller about who will pay for the refresh, as they're not obliged to do so. Most sellers will pay in order to facilitate their sale going through quicker, but some could dig their heels in.

Once again, isn't your solicitor or agent providing you with ANY advice on this?

googler

ellie27 wrote: »

I think this figure has come about as simply the average of the last 2 similar houses in the street - sold for £270k in 2009 and £257k in 2010.

There have been no house sales in the last 4 years....until July this year - almost identical house on same street sold for £230k.

My thinking is since it appears that the valuation is a simple average of last 2 homes sold ....

Should the surveyors home report valuation be simply the average of the last 2 sales that were 5 years ago? I thought it was supposed to be a current market valuation?

The surveyor may have taken into account houses for which there were attempted sales in the interim, but which didn't complete. What information do you have on these?

ellie27

googler wrote: »

Once again, isn't your solicitor or agent providing you with ANY advice on this?

I thought my solicitor only came into it when we had an offer accepted on a place and we wanted him to do a written offer.

I didnt think a solicitor was there to advise on things like this - perhaps but with a huge fee on top of the selling/buying fee?

Our agent? You mean our estate agent? Our selling agent I thought would be dealing only with the house sale side of things? Not advise on a house purchase, a house being sold by a different agent.

davidmcn

ellie27 wrote: »

I thought my solicitor only came into it when we had an offer accepted on a place and we wanted him to do a written offer.

I didnt think a solicitor was there to advise on things like this - perhaps but with a huge fee on top of the selling/buying fee?

No, this is a normal part of the service. Speak to your solicitor tomorrow.