£0 valuation from halifax

blade_jes

I put an offer on a semidetached house built in 1947 with a white render. Paid for a basic valuation through Halifax, today they told my broker it was valued at £0 but have not yet given a reason, should be a couple of days.... They have said they will not supply a offer unless a structural survey is done.
Is this common for old houses or do you think something sinister has been found??

If it comes back as something like subsidence where do I go from there, I really love the house, it's in a perfect location and 4 bed at a good price!

Cheers

DpchMd

I would accept their valuation of £0 and reduce your offer by 100%. Explain to the seller that other lenders are likely to come to the same conclusion, so they might as well sell it you for nothing.

Goldiegirl

It's quite rare for a valuation of zero, so it looks as if the valuer has found something he doesn't like, possibly subsidence, or evidence of historic subsidence.

A structural survey may reassure the valuer and he may go on to provide a valuation, or it may be that he wouldn't provide a valuation until certain works are done.

Personally, I'd walk away at this point.

blade_jes

We know the current owners wishes to move out asap and has already had 1 failed sale due to a break in the chain, if they don't sell the house to us then the next person who puts an offer down will face the same problems. I really hope it comes back as something minor that the basic valuation person didn't feel was within their skills or expected report, and that a proper survey was needed I guess it might put us in a good barganing position.

Leon_W

1947 ? Semi ? Not ex local authority perhaps ?


The likelihood is that the type of property is on the defective housing list and unless repaired properly with a certificate to prove then it will be un-mortgagable.

amnblog

White render - or concrete?

wannahouse

Ours initially was put with a valuation of zero, which basically means they wouldn't lend on it, based on the things they flagged up initially.
We had to get a full survey done, and based on that and the experts recommendations, we had a list of works they wanted done BEFORE they would give us the full valuation figure...

Our choice was, to do these works btwn exhange and completion and take the risk ,or walk away....

We chose the first option, risking around £30,000 on works done to the place, but for us, it was worth the risk...

The house was worth alot more than we paid for it, but because it needed some works done (rewire, patching the roof, new septic system, new rainwater goods etc) it made it more difficult for people to purchase unless they chose to either pay cash or jump through hoops, as we had to...
We decided we could not afford to LOSE this opportunity, so made a calculated risk.

When it Did get revalued once the works were done, we got a pleasant surprise with the bank calling us to say it had valued at ABOVE the purchase price, and therefore they considered we had more equity in it and offered us an extra 1% off the interest rate we were expecting to pay!
People on here said that was impossible and could not be true, as they either take the purchase price, or the valuation price, which ever is lower and go by that, but Lloyd's obviously did not!

The laugh was on the surveyor actually, the pratt that he was the whole way through, as he commented on the new kitchen installed and the granite work tops, (which we weren't asked to do, but did it to make it more comfortable for us when we moved in rather than the 85 yr old kitchen that was there before) and thought we had spent "a small fortune on it!!! LOL!!!!
We actually bought the whole kitchen 2nd hand from ebay, for only £399, and jigged it to make it fitted the space, and repainted the cabinets..yes, it looks great, and obviously fooled him!

If you really want the house ,ask the questions and find out why it would be a 100% retention- do your research, and then negotiate with the bank about what they would expect in order to lend on it....
you have to start somewhere...

if it has big problems ,then walk away, unless the price is right, and its worth spending the money on!