Help, house unmortgageable

Elsadog

We put our house on the market and accepted an offer, the buyer had a mortgage survey by Countrywide and they received a message from the lender saying the property is unmortgageable and pulled out . We asked for a copy of the survey but the buyer refused. We put the property back on the market and accepted another offer. This buyer has the same mortgage company as the last one, Nationwide, and received a message from them saying they won’t even send a countrywide surveyor around as the house is unmortgageable. We are stuck with a house we cannot sell and we don’t even know what is wrong with it. Can anyone advise please.

lincroft1710

How easy was it for you to get a mortgage?

What does your estate agent say?

Is there anything obvious such as the house being of timber or metal or concrete construction>

davidmcn

Give us details of the house and we might be able to have an educated guess.

Elsadog

We purchased 7 years ago and just had the standard mortgage survey, by Nationwide, no problems reported.Standard construction. Estate agent suggests getting a structural survey but will this get our house back on the mortgageable list?

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

If the buyer has pulled out, there's no reason for them to not share the val report with you (other than if they feel that you held something back from them).Given that they have said no, you could maybe even offer to pay for it so they get something back on the val fee paid?

Have you had a mortgage on this property in the recent past? Is it in a particularly and visibly poor condition? Does it have two kitchens? Is it adjacent to a commercial establishment (pub, restaurant, etc)?

If it's one house in a row/street of similar houses, if you share the street name, I could have a look at it to see if there are any evident issues.


Edit: You had a Nationwide mortgage taken out 7 years ago. Afaik, their eligibility criteria for houses isn't likely to have changed too much in that relatively short period.

Elsadog

There are 3 small hairline cracks in the render on the front of the house and a lime tree on the pavement, the tree is always well pruned back every year by the council.

princeofpounds

You don’t necessarily need a copy of the survey - would they not even give a verbal reason? It’s really unusual for people to not even utter a rough outline of the reason.

You could get your own survey, although it’s hard fo know if this is more about the construction or more legal issues like access or the ground it sits on. One way to find out would be going through the countrywide application process yourself perhaps... when they say no, ask why.

Jumblebumble

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser wrote: »

If the buyer has pulled out, there's no reason for them to not share the val report with you (other than if they feel that you held something back from them).Given that they have said no, you could maybe even offer to pay for it so they get something back on the val fee paid?

Have you had a mortgage on this property in the recent past? Is it in a particularly and visibly poor condition? Does it have two kitchens? Is it adjacent to a commercial establishment (pub, restaurant, etc)?

If it's one house in a row/street of similar houses, if you share the street name, I could have a look at it to see if there are any evident issues.


Edit: You had a Nationwide mortgage taken out 7 years ago. Afaik, their eligibility criteria for houses isn't likely to have changed too much in that relatively short period.

I was under the impression that the survey was likely to state in its terms and conditions that it was not to be copied and/or shared.
If this is the case than the buyer is quite correct in their actions

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

Could you describe the cracks a bit more?

How do they run - horizontally/vertically/diagonally?
How wide are they, could you push a 10/50p coin through it?
Are the cracks visible internally as well?
How close are they to the door, window?

Elsadog wrote: »

There are 3 small hairline cracks in the render on the front of the house and a lime tree on the pavement, the tree is always well pruned back every year by the council.

specialhat

I'd probably get my own surveyor round in these circumstances. He/she could then advise on necessary works.

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

Nothing stops you from sharing it with anyone you want. No third party can rely on the report without the lender agreeing to it (a** covering).

This is the T&C that you are referring to.

"No responsibility whatsoever is accepted by us to any third party and this report should not be relied on by any third party for any commercial purposes or any use without our written authority."

Jumblebumble wrote: »

I was under the impression that the survey was likely to state in its terms and conditions that it was not to be copied and/or shared.
If this is the case than the buyer is quite correct in their actions