Broker told me everything was fine when it wasn't...

snazzy123

Hi, I've been lurking on these forums for a while but this is my very first post...so bear with me please!

I applied for a mortgage almost 2 months ago now through an independent broker. Queue a month of passing various documents required backwards and forwards (a lot of my pay is commission so was a bit more complicated)...broker got back to me 2 weeks ago saying everything was approved, the survey was satisfactory, and I should have an offer in the post in a couple of days. Great, I thought!

When no offer arrived I decided to ring the bank directly. They told me the survey had been done on the 31st Oct but the surveyor had mistakenly put a 100% retention on it. I should add that the house is a new build and I'm in NI. Apparently the surveyor was new and didn't know the process?!

I'm a bit annoyed at my broker for telling me it was fine when it obviously wasn't. Why would he have done this? And should i approach him about it?

So this has held everything up again, as the bank have to arrange a new survey now! I'm a FTB so I'm totally new to all this. Does this sort of thing happen often?

ACG

The broker may have called up and been told the valuation has come back fine with no retention being mentioned. He might have thought that it will save you worrying by saying its ok and him getting it rectified?

I wouldnt say that happens a lot (I have never come across it) but mistakes do happen, its just part of life.

amnblog

Never heard of such a mistake before (100)% retention being noted in error).


Most likely the lender misinformed the broker regarding progress (this does happen regularly).


I cannot see why a new valuation is required if it is just an error on the report.


Trust your broker and speak to item.

snazzy123

Thanks ACS. I initially got a call from him to say it was all fine, and then a week later I noticed the fees for the survey hadn't been taken from my account so I emailed him to check if it had actually been done, and he said the exact same thing..that everything was fine. From speaking to the bank they didn't mention that anything was being done to fix it, something was only done once I rang them.

It's just a bit worrying that it's going on so long...I was meant to have a signed contract back before the end of October, so we're two weeks late now!

snazzy123

The bank said it would be quicker to get a new survey done than try to amend the incorrect one? It's ulster bank and legal and general doing the valuation btw. My dad is a surveyor so he was really surprised the retention was applied to begin with, he said valuing new builds off plan is really straightforward in most cases.

amnblog

You are one of ten of thousands who cannot understand why it takes so long.


If you are ever in London take a trip to 25 The North Colonnade Canary Wharf E14 5HS and you will get a clue as to why everything is so time consuming.

stator

snazzy123 wrote: »

The bank said it would be quicker to get a new survey done than try to amend the incorrect one? It's ulster bank and legal and general doing the valuation btw. My dad is a surveyor so he was really surprised the retention was applied to begin with, he said valuing new builds off plan is really straightforward in most cases.

I hope they aren't going to charge you for the second valuation

snazzy123

stator wrote: »

I hope they aren't going to charge you for the second valuation

They don't appear to have charged for the 1st valuation!

To be fair, everyone I spoke to at Ulster bank were very helpful and seemed surprised that the mistake had been made in the first place. I just wish it had been picked up sooner without me having to chase it!

kingstreet

If its system operates like NatWest's the broker only gets a postal copy of the offer, same as the applicant.

This can sometimes mean time elapses between being told the offer has been issued and the offer actually arriving.

I'd still have been chasing the non-arrival of an offer within two weeks of it allegedly being issued though.

snazzy123

I chose the option of the lender paying him commission rather than pay him a fee...and presumably he doesn't get that until the offer is issued? I would have thought that was incentive enough for him to chase it...

kingstreet

snazzy123 wrote: »

I chose the option of the lender paying him commission rather than pay him a fee...and presumably he doesn't get that until the offer is issued? I would have thought that was incentive enough for him to chase it...

Commission is paid after completion, not after offer issue.

I'd expect them to chase the offer because it's the right thing to do, not just because it's the next step on the road to getting paid, although that's always nice...