Estate agent: successful lender valuation survey mean renegotiation is not possible

f_warne

Thanks all.

The EA knows that the lenders valuation survey was successful because we let them know once we found out. So not a specific valuation just that the lender is happy to lend the asking price.

Our surveyor advised us on the phone that the price should be renegotiated in light of his report.

And yes we sent the survey over to the EA as well.

Not sure if we have been a bit naive sharing information with the EA.

KRB2725

I can see both sides of this one. If the bank value the property in line with what you are paying for it then your lender obviously feels it's a fair price to pay.

There are many lender surveys that come back with a valuation under the offer price, which obviously assists renegotiation. Considering your detailed survey has no valuation on it, then you are negotiating from a weakened position.

However, I do understand why you would want to reduce your offer. Was there much interest in the house and had it been on the market long?

SmlSave

That's an important lesson for next time.... never ever let the estate agents or sellers know or see the bit of the valuation that say the property is worth what you've offered! Only show the parts that show works need doing.

Herbalus

Depends on the value of the house. There might not be too much difference between £200k and £192k, so the lender was happy to lend at £200k.

f_warne

Thanks all. The property will definitely be in high demand and was on the market for only a few days.

GaggingOrder

kinger101 wrote: »

If you speak to the EA again (rather than doing this via solicitors) you need to rehearse what to say.
.

So would you normally renegotiate on price through your solicitor then?

theEnd

I'm with the EA a bit on this one. The survey says it's worth X in it's current state.

They may budge a little, but can be confident that if someone else offers X, there's a good chance the bank will lend that.

kinger101

GaggingOrder wrote: »

So would you normally renegotiate on price through your solicitor then?

The solicitor probably won't want to get involved, but if they do, they'll just tell the vendors's solicitor straight what you tell them to.

e.g. "The offer is now £X"

I'd use the solicitor where it was an ultimatum rather than a negotiation.

kinger101

theEnd wrote: »

I'm with the EA a bit on this one. The survey says it's worth X in it's current state.

They may budge a little, but can be confident that if someone else offers X, there's a good chance the bank will lend that.

It doesn't really though. The lenders valuation doesn't provide the same detail as the survey. And the bank's interest is protected somewhat as they're not lending 100% of the property price. Many people turn down the offer to get a full survey or HB report done by the bank's surveyor, as it's more likely to downvalue the property and throw a spanner in the works.

Regardless of what any valuation says, the property is worth what someone is willing and able to pay for it.

AdrianC

It's quite simple.

The surveyors are saying "The house needs £X spending on A, B and C. But, even taking that into account, the offer price is still a fair price for this house in this condition."

So - no, if I was selling, I would not be keen to renegotiate.