Mortgage valuation concrete flat

sonaldo

Hi. We had secured a mortgage for a 2 bed top floor 1930s Art Deco property. The problem we now face is that the valuation, on behalf of Halifax, says the building isn't suitable for lending and even that it is of “dangerous” cdonstruction essentially not fit for human living.

We informed the broker it’s a reinforced concrete frame with 4 inch reinforced concrete walls lined internally with 1 inch cork walls. They found us a lender accordingly. But apparently the surveyor is saying there is a ‘discrepancy’ between what we told them and what they think it’s made of. However, our information comes from a book authored by the architect (who I would argue knows more about the construction of the property than some surveyor from Kettering).

Nevertheless, this is the situation we are in. We believe the surveyor is wrong; there are 218 flats in this development and they are sold/bought frequently - with mortgages.

Could anybody please advise on our next steps? Our broker is useless. They have said that if what the surveyor is true nobody will lend on it. However this is unsatisfactory because we know people do lend on it and we have good reason to believe the surveyor is wrong.

Bermonia

As an outside thought it may be worth talking to some people who have bought and enquire who they mortgaged with and then approach that lender.

beckstas-money

Going through exactly the same thing. Its put a stop with my Natwest offer, at a lost with what to do. 9th floor, 2 bed flat. 80 flats in total of which 16 are lease holders.

Might your surveyor have come from Connells by any chance?

muhandis

What you need to do is find out who the other owners (of similar flats) in the building have mortgages with.

You can either ask around, or you can look up title deeds ( £3/property online on the HM Land Registry website https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/eservices/FindAProperty/view/QuickEnquiryInit.do ) which will name the lender on the first page if the property is mortgaged.

In your place, if there are 4 flats on the top floor, I would spend £9 and get the title deeds for the other 3 to check who the lenders are.

Once you've done that, find a different broker.

Msrajjc2 wrote: »

Hi. We had secured a mortgage for a 2 bed top floor 1930s Art Deco property. The problem we now face is that the valuation, on behalf of Halifax, says the building isn't suitable for lending and even that it is of “dangerous” cdonstruction essentially not fit for human living.

We informed the broker it’s a reinforced concrete frame with 4 inch reinforced concrete walls lined internally with 1 inch cork walls. They found us a lender accordingly. But apparently the surveyor is saying there is a ‘discrepancy’ between what we told them and what they think it’s made of. However, our information comes from a book authored by the architect (who I would argue knows more about the construction of the property than some surveyor from Kettering).

Nevertheless, this is the situation we are in. We believe the surveyor is wrong; there are 218 flats in this development and they are sold/bought frequently - with mortgages.

Could anybody please advise on our next steps? Our broker is useless. They have said that if what the surveyor is true nobody will lend on it. However this is unsatisfactory because we know people do lend on it and we have good reason to believe the surveyor is wrong.