House survey down valued the house - money back

DD92

Me and my other half are first time buyers and have recently had an offer accepted on a house for 215k. We had a home buyers report carried out and although no significant issues were found the house was valued at 190k. As a result the amount we can borrow has been restricted based on the revised value and if we want to continue with the purchase we would need to stump up the remaining 25k on top of our deposit (no chance!)

The building society we went through for our mortgage in principle has an estate agent's branch which just so happens to be the estate agent selling the property. This is where a bit of frustration has crept in for me. Basically one arm of the company has valued the property at £215k and valuers acting on behalf of another arm of the company has valued it at £190k.

In the likey event that this sale falls through (can't imagine him wanting to accept £25k less and there were other parties interested who may be able to put a little more equity in, even if it's not the full 25k) do we have any grounds to get our money back for the home buyers report as this is £500 down the toilet because the company disagrees with itself.

I'm sure that legally we're probably not entitled to our money back but is this something the building society may cinsider from a reputational / good will gesture point of view?

TadleyBaggie

You would be off posting this in the "The House Buying, Renting & Selling Board".

Wassa123

There is no hope in recovering fees like that.

You offered it but now it turns out you can’t afford it as you were hoping the mortgage would cover the rest. Someone else may have a bigger deposit who is still willing to proceed.


Unfortunately I lost mortgage/survey fees on 3 properties before the 4th was successful .

dj1471

Offer £25k less. Any other potential buyers are likely to receive similar valuations. You should be pleased that you've avoided over-paying for the property and have the opportunity to renegotiate the price.

Mortgage valuations almost always agree with the offer price unless the offer is obviously and significantly more than the property is worth.

DD92

dj1471 wrote: »

Offer £25k less. Any other potential buyers are likely to receive similar valuations. You should be pleased that you've avoided over-paying for the property and have the opportunity to renegotiate the price.

Mortgage valuations almost always agree with the offer price unless the offer is obviously and significantly more than the property is worth.

Yeah that's we're doing. It would be great if worked but I can't see him dropping that much. There was loads of interest in the house and several bids came in over 200k and he is in no rush to move.

TheCyclingProgrammer

As above, offer the value price and if it’s rejected, move on. The £500 is nothing compared to the £25k you may have ended up overpaying.

bris

The only valuation that counts is the one the lender wants to see. This is the one from the other branch of the company, the one that answers to the lender.


This is why lenders have their own preferred valuers, so they don't get caught out with over inflated house prices, they got caught like that once before.

missile

Valuations are just one persons "expert" opinion.