Survey - unncessary?

Innys

Hello everyone,

Wanted your views, if possible.

I am looking to remortgage my 3 bed semi in the South East. The remortgage amount is no more than £50k.

The surveyors appointed by the lender have insisted that the remortgage won't proceed until they get access to the interior of the house to check it out. I'm reluctant to take half a day's leave for something so trivial.

My question is, am I being unreasonable? I feel it's not warranted as even if the house was collapsing, which it isn't, and could be spotted from the outside anyway, the land alone is worth far more than £50k. Given this, what's so important about getting into the building.

I am tempted to withdraw the remortgage application if they insist on an internal survey - I'd only be saving £30 or so a month anyway by remortgaging.

What's your views?

Thanks

I

toonfish

if you want the remortgage you'll need to let them in - it's as simple as that.

Some lenders simply do "drive-by" valuations.

inmypocketnottheirs

Innys wrote: »

Hello everyone,

Wanted your views, if possible.

I am looking to remortgage my 3 bed semi in the South East. The remortgage amount is no more than £50k.

The surveyors appointed by the lender have insisted that the remortgage won't proceed until they get access to the interior of the house to check it out. I'm reluctant to take half a day's leave for something so trivial.

My question is, am I being unreasonable? I feel it's not warranted as even if the house was collapsing, which it isn't, and could be spotted from the outside anyway, the land alone is worth far more than £50k. Given this, what's so important about getting into the building.

I am tempted to withdraw the remortgage application if they insist on an internal survey - I'd only be saving £30 or so a month anyway by remortgaging.

What's your views?

Thanks

I

I would consider how long a period you are remortgaging for, and the length of time remaining on your existing debts. Borrowing over a longer period to reduce outgoings, especially if only £30 a month, could result in a lot more interest being paid.

Innys

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

I would consider how long a period you are remortgaging for, and the length of time remaining on your existing debts. Borrowing over a longer period to reduce outgoings, especially if only £30 a month, could result in a lot more interest being paid.

I'm remortgaging to a tracker rate as opposed to the SVR my current lender is offering me. The term is the same. So I don't think there's an issue with paying more interest.

elvis_girl

I agree with you Innys. Why should you take half a days leave at your own expense. I wonder what would happen if you ride it out by avoiding the surveyor for a week or two - maybe they'll just do a drive by. Depends how much they want the business I suppose.

Conrad

The reasons a lender requires an inspection are many and include;

To check the place is'nt being let out

To check you have not made unlawful alterations

To check for serious defects.

There are a hundred ways homeowners can con money out of lenders. A physical inspection is one way for them to limit thier exposure.

Often we get the neave view - 'but the place is worth far more than the loan', but for a variety of reasons this is irrelevant. Imagine you had an ilegal business or static caravan camp on the land (having knocked down the house) and you were running out of money so need the £50,000 to do a bunk abroad. It could take years for the lender to evict the dwellers and hundreds of thousands of pounds.

You probably think Im being extreme, but there are good reasons for lenders wanting to see the asset.

A pawnbroker doesnt give you £10,000 based on a photo of a ring, he wants to touch it first

Debt_Free_Chick

The interior could be trashed, making the house effectively "worthless" (OK - so not worth nothing, but it would seriously affect the value).

Must you take half a day's leave? Would the surveyor do a first appointment at, say, 9am - you would be away to work by 9.30. Or last one in the day e.g. 4.30pm - would either result in less than half a day's holiday?

If you want the mortgage, I can't see you have much choice. Although, Elvis Girl suggests, you may be successful if you "bluff this out".

Almost every business has a process these days and every application/enquiry has to follow it. Gone are the days when staff could use common sense - they must simply follow the process. In this case, the lender's process seems to be that all applications will be subject to internal inspection, irrespective of the LTV.

Innys

The lender has come back to say a survey is essential. Well, I've decided they can keep their money and I'll stay with my current Building Society.

As for the multitude of reasons why lenders want to see a property for valuation purposes, can you please explain why a drive by survey is an option provided by some lenders? :rolleyes:

After all, when I spoke to the lender initially they said a survey may not be necessary at all if the surveyor had "enough" information about the area I live in. Sadly, that isn't the case.

homer_j_3

As the world becomes more technologically advanced, more lenders are opting to move away from the traditional survey for properties with plenty of equity and sufficient data to statistically put their mind at rest that your property is a good risk. They can now do this because of the multitude of data collected on properties these days.

Some lenders will not adopt this approach until its been embedded and shown that its a proven method and will want to do it the old way until this point.

Even then, even if they do 99.9% automated valuations, at the end of the day they have the power to say "we want to check this one" and ask to inspect your property before lending you the money. Conrad summed it up pretty well as far as I was concerned.

Surely if the deal you are going for is the best deal and it will save you money each month, its got to be worth taking some paid time off work. Or am I wrong?

If you really love work that much or simply cannot get the time off, can you not get a friend or a relative to let them in to do the survey whilst you are at work?

Some people will always rebel against the system and some will accept it with grace and understand that until they are lending the money out, they really do not have the right to demand the terms on how that money should be lent.

You either put up or shut up I'm afraid and you have decided to shut up and stay where you are.

Sorry to be so blunt about it but you have been given the reason why they want to value it - they do not have sufficient information about the area. Seems perfectly acceptable to me and if it was me lending you the money, I wouldn't just give you the money without taking reasonable steps to check my security was good for it.