Survey Advice

Im_A_Mouse_In_Need

Hello,

I am buying a property, built approx 1970 in excellent condition

Mortgage with Abbey, basic survey and valuation comes to £430

I am looking into getting a homebuyers survey done, asking the surveyor to add this on. My mortgage broker called this morning and said this costs approx £600 - when I asked if this was on top of the £430 he thought so but was not 100% convincing.

Then he said the surveyor would probably negotiate a discount - did I want to proceed? I asked what kind of discount to expect, he hadn't a clue.

Can anyone give me an idea of what sort of amount I should expect to pay for basic valuation and homebuyers survey combined? I will be negotiating with the surveyor soon, and my broker seems to be little help at the moment. Purchase price £315k, I guess this might affect the amount the survey should cost

Many thanks for your help

ono_no_komachi

We would have paid £499 for a basic valuation survey. We wanted a full structural survey; our mortgage broker was aware of this, said it would cost up to £1000, but all we needed to pay him was the £499.

The survey was duly arranged and carried out, the full survey to include the valuation. We got a bill from the surveyors, I can't remember the exact amount but I think it was about £800 + VAT, we queried whether we needed to pay this amount on top of the £499 and the surveyor said no, we only needed to send him a cheque for the difference.

FWIW, the property values are fairly similar in our case and yours.

I assume this is what generally happens.

clutton_2

i'd get a different broker if he is this ignorant

Im_A_Mouse_In_Need

Thanks for the replies. The situation has now turned slightly ugly. Further advice would be much appreciated:

Broker called later on Friday (when I first posted here), left message saying Homebuyer Survey costs £600 all in, which meant it was just £170 to add to the mortgage valuation fee. Surely a no brainer then.

I called broker on Monday to say I wanted Homebuyer Survey. He said he would arrange this. He called back a few minutes later to tell me the lender had somehow managed to squeeze the mortgage valuation in last Friday. The offer on the house was only accepted 24 hours before. That's fast work. Too fast in fact.

As it stands I am waiting for the broker to talk to the surveyor and try to negotiate the homebuyer survey at a sensible price. I feel completely let down by the broker. When he took the valuation fee he was careful to point out that I would be able to negotiate a fuller survey if I desired. He did not give any inkling that the valuation could proceed within 24 hours, and indeed I think he was fairly clueless that this could happen so quickly.

The fact that it proceeded straight away, without the broker's knowledge indicates that there was no liaison whatsoever between the parties involved.

Broker is trying to talk me out of having the homebuyer survey done, saying it probably wouldn't turn anything up anyway. This is simply winding me up even more.

Worst case scenario, surveyor says it's full £600 extra for the homebuyers survey. I feel this situation has arisen completely due to the brokers negligence in paying the valuation fee and assuming he could upgrade the survey before it took place.

At first I partially blamed myself, thinking I should have held the broker up on the payment just in case. But the more I go back over what he told me, the more I remember him reassuring me that there was no way the valuation would proceed before I could speak to the surveyor.

Should I blame myself for believing the advice given by a mortgage broker would be accurate? I am paying a fee to the broker on completion, does inaccurate advice have any value?

I know the broker in question is a decent person, he means no harm and this is obviously an unfortunate situation that he finds himself in. But all the same, I would feel completely responsible if I were in his shoes.

Any thoughts on the matter would be very welcome

cats!

I would write and tell him how annoyed you are at this monumental !!!!-up quite frankly! He has not acted in your best interests and has cost you money!

Can you double-check that the valuation survey has actually been completed? To get this done in 24 hrs seems strange - was it a drive-by one??

On another point, my mortgage broker advised against getting the survey done by the same surveyor. He felt that to be truly impartial it was better to employ another surveyor. Are you comfortable with a homebuyers report?? Personally I would get a full structural one - then there can be no surpirses!!

Good Luck!

Debt_Free_Chick

Personally, I would just ignore what Abbey have done. They have not done any kind of survey at all - just a valuation. Sometimes, that involves a "drive past" the property - often, they just phone some local EAs for a valuation!!!!! The fee is usually an "application fee" which includes the valuation, but doesn't represent only the cost of the valuation.

I know the extra cost is annoying, but the Lender's valuation is of no use to you - you want and need a survey, not a "how much is this worth" kind of value.

Im_A_Mouse_In_Need

Thanks for the replies.

Spoke to EA today - they believe the valuation survey was actually done on Monday. I think the lender just gave the broker slightly wrong info, but it does indicate the broker does not even know who the surveyor is or how to contact them.

Broker now says he can do nothing until surveyor puts his report in to the lender.

I have taken further advice from another independent mortgage broker. They say that since I had asked for the price to upgrade the valuation survey to a homebuyers survey, there was obviously doubt over what survey was needed and the broker should have:

- Called the lender and told them to hold off the valuation
- Instructed the EA not to allow the surveyor to access the property yet

Easy to say in hindsight, but these do seem like rather reasonable things to suggest.

The second broker was surprised at my broker charging a fee for his services, since they also receive a large commission from the lender. They suggested that I refuse to pay the broker their fee based on the extra expense they are likely to incur through their mistake. That way the process of putting an official complaint through can be avoided, less hassle for all parties and the broker still makes a healthy commission anyway.

I got on really well with the broker before this. I wish they would be big enough to admit that this is their fault, as it would be a shame to ruin the goodwill we had towards each other. I will hold out for a gesture from the broker before I take further action.