Booking fees

freckles76

Hi there,

We recently went through Countrywide Mortgage Centres to organise our mortgage. We got a mortgage arranged in principle and it was all going through fine and the valuation was done etc, then our mortgage provider pulled out and wouldn't give us a reason.

My question is, we had to make a cheque payable to Countrywide Mortgage Centres for £350 at the beginning of the process. They've now said we can't get that back. I asked for a copy of the valuation report as I wanted to see something for our money, but they won't give us that either as they say it's for internal use only.

Are they justified in keeping our money or do we have any grounds in fighting to get it back?

Any advice would be welcome,

AndrewSmith

Look at the Initial Disclosure Document provided by your mortgage broker, it will explain all the details relating to the fees.

It should tell you whether the fees payable upfront are refundable and under which circumstances.

homer_j_3

if the valuation was conducted then I guess that the surveyor has done their job and therefore you have no comeback as its not the surveyors problem that the lender decided to not proceed with the mortgage.

If the valuation was a basic valuation, then that is for the lenders purpose and is not for you the client (although some lenders will give you a copy).

Your adviser should have explained the differences between a basic valuation and a homebuyers and full structural survey. This explanation should have included the fact that a basic one was for the lender and not you.

They should have also explained at the stage when they issued you with a key features illustration that the fee would not be refundable once survey has taken place if you or the lender decided not to proceed for any reason.

The final thing I would say is that - even if you got the piece of paper with the valuation details, it cannot be used in that format to support another application. You may be able to get a retype if your next lender will accept surveys from countrywide surveyors - this will often be less costly.

You need to find out though what stopped the application. I would press your broker for this - was it credit, the property etc..

Rafter

If your mortgage provider pulled out, and you were honest on your application then your booking fee should be refunded in full.

If you didn't qualify for the mortgage then Countrywide should be responsible for processing your application when it had no chance of completing.

Regardless of whether the valuation was done, if you can't be given a satisfactory reason then why should you be out of pocket?

R.