First time buyer, BISF construction, Right to buy

Jonesyuk225

So,

As the title says we are first time buyers, the house is BISF construction and we are using the right to buy. We have had all of the checks from Nationwide and everything came back ok. They sent out a surveyor to check the property but advised that they would only be able to do a basic valuation as their standard survey isn't suitable for our type of property. I am pretty sure the company that came out were called Countrywide or similar.

When the surveyor turned up he immediately starting talking about the limited resale prospects due to it being BISF. Our next door neighbour (exact same house) sold his within weeks of it going to market. After he had finished he said he thought he could see damp in the roof space (loft) and said he would have to do some further investigation.

Nationwide have come back today and cancelled our application, they have stated the house isn't suitable security. The house was valued at nearly £130k with our purchase price just £75k.

My question - are they legally allowed to reject our application based upon the findings of a basic valuation without requesting any further work? I would have at least thought they would require a full structural or similar? We have a great L2V % and we live in a very desirable area with great local schools, transport links etc, i really feel this decision has been made on one guys opinion who doesn't live anywhere near the area or know about the recent sales?

chanz4

There money, there choice

Jonesyuk225

Cheers for that

Jonesyuk225

Found out today that Countrywide put a value of £0 on the house, I have started an appeal today but really have no idea where we go from here. Does anyone know any lenders that don't use Countrywide for the valuations? A separate surveyor valued the house at £128,000.

BornAtTheRightTime

Ask your new neighbours?

AdrianC

Jonesyuk225 wrote: »

Our next door neighbour (exact same house) sold his within weeks of it going to market.

Perhaps you could ask your new neighbour which borrower he used, and what the survey said about the construction?

We have a great L2V %

Not if the surveyor valued it at £0, you don't.

Jonesyuk225

I will be speaking the neighbour definitely, LTV is -100% based on Countrywides' valuation

ruggedtoast

Bisf is not very good.

ed110220

Unfortunately there is a lot of ignorance even amongst so-called professionals about BISF houses. I was in exactly your situation and found that this was the main problem - ignorance, myths, wives tales etc.

Most of the high street lenders will consider a BISF house if the original asbestos roof has been replaced. We used Halifax with no problems. Santander is also popular with BISF owners.

Nationwide also rejected ours based on the asbestos roof with a £0 valuation. It's clearly not a real valuation just their way of saying they don't want to lend so I wouldn't worry about it. Limited resale potential is just talking from a script - round here there are several hundred BISF houses, enough that there's pretty much always one for sale or just sold and they sell quickly, asbestos roof or not!

Check out https://www.bisfhouse.com it's a great source of info.

Ed

Pixie5740

Are you using a mortgage broker who specialises in RTB?

ed110220

I wouldn't complicate things with another layer of people who may not understand what BISF construction is about by involving a broker. I just took the nationwide valuation report to Halifax and asked if their valuer was familiar with BISF construction (a surprising number are not and make elementary mistakes such as identifying the house as a type covered by the housing defects acts). Turned out their main valuer was very familiar with BISF, he had recently done the valuation for the house next door but one. They emailed him a copy of the nationwide report and he was able to say that based on that they would not have a problem with it.

But you really need to deal with people who have some experience of BISF construction or you're likely to get nonsense such as that it's defective, precast concrete, a temporary prefab, unmortgageable etc.

Ed