Has anyone successfully appealed survey report down valuing a house?

Legacy_user

My buyer had the survey and the report came back fine in terms of the house however it has stated that the value is £250k as opposed to the agreed offer of £260k. The EA and buyer were not happy as the EA has already had offers nearer £270k accepted on three houses identical to mine on streets nearby and the buyer is not happy as he knows he will have to pay more if this sale falls through.

My house is going back on the market while he appeals the valuation and also will apply with other lenders.

I would have thought an appeal is useless as the surveyor is not going to admit he was wrong. Does anyone have experience of these kind of appeals?

phill99

Of course your EA is unhappy. His commission has just gone down. Why do you think the independent valuer is wrong? How do you know that your EA isn't wrong? EAs often over value houses to get instructions. And just because 2 similar houses have had offers over £270k, doesn't mean that they have sold for that.

kingstreet

Surveyors use comparables.

The recent (last 120 days) actual sold prices for similar property in the vicinity (less than 0.5 miles).

See if your purchaser is going to be able to find three to challenge the surveyor's opinion;-

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices.html

Tim_Bisley

It's all about comparable sold prices. If you can demonstrate similar properties have sold for that price within the past 3-6 months you might have a chance to successfully appeal, otherwise no. We had our purchase downvalued, and although it was a price that other places had sold for, they were 6-12+ months previously so weren't applicable.

System

phill99 wrote: »

Of course your EA is unhappy. His commission has just gone down. Why do you think the independent valuer is wrong? How do you know that your EA isn't wrong? EAs often over value houses to get instructions. And just because 2 similar houses have had offers over £270k, doesn't mean that they have sold for that.

Because we had 26 viewings and 14 of those offered over the £250k the surveyor has stated!

The EA doesn't care about £10k. In the bigger scheme of things he is selling mine and I am buying via him for £365k so 1.2% of £10k is really not much to him right now.

System

kingstreet wrote: »

Surveyors use comparables.

The recent (last 120 days) actual sold prices for similar property in the vicinity (less than 0.5 miles).

See if your purchaser is going to be able to find three to challenge the surveyor's opinion;-

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices.html

On that basis it would not be possible as pre November 2014 the market here was near non existent and since then the transactions will be just completed or near completion so the data will probably not be publicly available.

Tim_Bisley

Probably out of luck then. Buyer has the option of stumping up the extra or trying for a new mortgage with someone that uses a different surveyor, but you'll probably have the same outcome. Or you can come down on the price.

System

He doesn't have the cash unfortunately

Tim_Bisley

You'll have to come down then. It's frustrating because what it is "worth" and what the lender is prepared to lend are two different things. We would have been happy to pay £40k+ more than what is was eventually valued at because it stacked up with what else was available. Can't complain that we paid less money, but we were obviously concerned we'd lose the purchase.

You are paying a lot less stamp duty than a few months ago - could help in your calculations on taking the hit?

System

At this point, below £260k isn't viable for me because I made the offer I have based on my selling price.

If it is the case that I will not be able to find a buyer at £260k and my seller pulls out then I will just have to take it off the market. The EA has however advised that three other identical houses have in the last 3 weeks had no issues with surveys at £270k agreed prices so I seem to be the one that is stuck in this situation.

bris

Then find out if the surveyors of the other properties are on the lenders panel and get them to do the valuation. If it comes back at £270 then there is a good chance the £260 will be no problem to the lender.