Please help £0 valuation by Halifax even though they currently mortgage property for £60k

redsnooker90

Hello any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.  Me and my ex partner bought a BISF steel framed home in 2012 with a mortgage through Halifax at the time this all went through fine they done the valuation and gave the mortgage of £62,500.  Me and my partner have now split up and I'm trying to get a mortgage to buy her out of the property i went to Halifax as they were all ready lending on the property all seemed fine they sent out a valuator who advised that as they is spray form insulation covering the steel in the attic that this can cause the steel to rot so the home is unmortgagable. I have explained to them through the mortgage adviser that they are all ready lending on the property but they wont take any notice. If their valuator had advised this in 2012 we wouldn't have bought the property for obivuos reasons as the house is now deemed worthless their is still 17 years to pay on the mortgage do you think i would be able to make a claim against them for compensation or for them to reduce the mortgage? 

Thanks

davidmcn

redsnooker90 said:

do you think i would be able to make a claim against them for compensation or for them to reduce the mortgage?

No, if the Halifax's surveyor advised the Halifax it was ok to lend, you don't come into that at all.

If you had had your own survey carried out (did you?) and that survey had failed to pick up on the defective construction then you might have a case.

You might be better to contact a broker and see if other lenders are likely to be more relaxed about it.

eddddy

Just to clarify - the Halifax valuer isn't saying your house is worthless, they are saying that they won't accept it as security for a mortgage.

At the very least, you could sell it to a cash buyer. Or you could find out what needs to be done about the insulation to make it mortgageable.

Having said that, if a valuer came out, I guess you are trying to increase the size of the mortgage. Halifax might agree to let you have a mortgage for the same amount (£62,500), as that's not increasing their risk.

Unfortunately, mortgage lenders do tighten up their lending criteria over time. As another example, there are lots of people who got mortgages on properties with doubling ground rents, but now the same mortgage lenders are refusing to offer new mortgages on those properties, because of the doubling ground rents.

SpiderLegs

You can claim for whatever you want, but the reality is that in 2012 they were prepared to lend on the property and today they are not.
Rules and criteria change over time but they are still honouring the agreement they made with you in 2012.

Get a broker who can find you a different lender.

AdrianC

In 2012, they accepted it as adequate security.
In 2020, their acceptance criteria have changed.

It's that simple, and they have every right to do that. Other lenders may differ.

No, nobody could predict in 2012 that circumstances may change... And that's not unique to Halifax or their surveyor. Your own circumstances have changed, too...

Assuming the spray foam was there in 2012, and hasn't been added since, was it flagged on your survey at the time? Attitudes to things like that change over time, too, as people get more experience of the long-term effects.

John_

What did your own survey say at the time that you bought it?
As above, the valuation for the mortgage company is nothing to do with you, it’s for the lender, to advise them whether they should lend or not.

redsnooker90

AdrianC said:

Assuming the spray foam was there in 2012, and hasn't been added since, was it flagged on your survey at the time? Attitudes to things like that change over time, too, as people get more experience of the long-term effects.

It was flagged as being there but not an issue for lending or anything that i needed to rectify

redsnooker90

If you had had your own survey carried out (did you?) and that survey had failed to pick up on the defective construction 

no it was only there surveyor that we had when we originally bought the property  

[Deleted User]

https://sprayfoamremoval.co.uk/  Might be useful reading.  

davidmcn

redsnooker90 said:

AdrianC said:

Assuming the spray foam was there in 2012, and hasn't been added since, was it flagged on your survey at the time? Attitudes to things like that change over time, too, as people get more experience of the long-term effects.

It was flagged as being there but not an issue for lending or anything that i needed to rectify

Well, there you go. Their criteria have changed since you bought. Nothing you can really do about that.

steampowered

Try a different lender.

It might be the second surveyor picked up on something the first surveyor didn't. Or it might be the second surveyor was overreacting.

You shouldn't go straight to Halifax just because they lended in the past anyway. They might not be offering the best rate.