Grounds for complaint against surveyor?

contento123

Good evening all, 
to cut a long story short I’ve been trying to purchase a new build flat through help to buy. So my time line is roughly:
Application put in with Santander start of October. Offer declined on ground rent being too high. 

Application then put in with NatWest, offer declined again as ground rent too high (£310 pa on £155,000 flat). 

Ground rent negotiated down to £250, appeal put in with NatWest, again declined on ground rent. 

Ground rent then negotiated down to £155 pa which is 0.1%, we thought then there would be no issue so it went back to NatWest, who then updated the surveyor. But this week the same surveyor has down valued to £135,000, a full £20k lower and the builder is not willing to drop. To say I’m livid is an understatement. Other flats in that complex have sold near asking price. So two weeks ago at the first valuation the price was ok, two weeks later it’s dropped £20,000? Plus I’ve lost £248 on the valuation fee which they won’t now refund. It’s like playing wack a mole. We seem to sort one issue and something else crops up. We’re speaking to Santander again on Monday to see if they will accept now the ground rent is much lower. 

Should I put in a complaint with the RICS? I know it won’t make much difference to my mortgage offer but I think it’s very unfair. 

(Apologies for the winey post, this has been back and forth for 2 months and it’s beginning to grate on me) 

theartfullodger

I can complain that Boris is a useless PM who's miss-managed (perhaps not  managed) Brex**** and caused the death of too many through Covid (certainly compared to other countries), plus damaged the economy more than most countries: But I doubt I'd be successful, even though clearly correct.

It could be, of course, that the surveyor is correct about the value of the place. I've had several experiences of surveyors valuing below purchase price, one significantly above what I'd agreed.  Buying property is rather like marriage: Until a few years later you don;t know if it was a good idea or not...

davidmcn

What would the grounds for your complaint be? Their valuation may be entirely correct.

Plus it's a valuation for the lender, not you.

And I expect the RICS would in any event insist on you first exhausting the firm's own complaints procedure before bothering them.

Marshaltown

The Surveying Firm are acting on behalf of the Mortgage Lender, and protecting their interests not yours. Unfortunately, contractually, you have nothing to complain about as you are not a party to that contract. However it does seem strange the valuation was reduced by such an amount, on the other hand its even more alarming the Ground Rent was reduced by 50% in only 2 months. 

Thrugelmir

No point in complaining. Surveyor works in the lenders interests not yours. As it's their money at stake. 

rik111

I think you should send the surveyor a letter of thanks for saving you a lot of money.....
Why is builder trying to charge £320.. ground rent making it near impossible to get a mortgage. Why then drop it to £250.00 which still wont get you a mortgage... Of course the builder wont accept the "valuation" they have already showed themselves to be robbing gits and your bending over backwards chasing round until you find a lender willing to take a big risk. Next step for you will be a specialised lender charging you an extremely special interest rate which your stuck with because no high street lender will touch a flat in negative equity.

alt80

The valuer will need to show evidence for his valuation, we do not just pluck a figure out of the air, must be based on robust evidence, also we don't dictate the market - ultimately we follow it. The surveyor is acting on behalf of the lender as others have said (although if you're a residential buyer rather than investor, at that price point, he has a duty of care to you also).

(I'm a RICS surveyor / valuer by profession with own practice, also a developer/ investor and agent so see it from every side)

AskAsk

ask the surveyor why he has reduced the valuation two weeks after the first one.

contento123

Yes, the surveyor may have saved me money in the long run, and also made it easier to sell the property in the future in terms of the lower ground rent but £20,000 less in the space of roughly two weeks? It’s a spacious two bedroom flat in a nice market town near Peterborough, checks have been done by solicitors which haven’t highlighted anything adverse. Why was £155,000 acceptable two weeks ago but not today? All very bizarre. Did somebody just build a nuclear power station next door? The Santander surveyor had no issue with the selling price, only the ground rent. 

I suppose instead of making a complaint I need to ask the surveyor what he based his valuation on. Although I have no idea how I would do that, maybe ask my mortgage broker for the surveyors details? 

contento123

Marshaltown said:

The Surveying Firm are acting on behalf of the Mortgage Lender, and protecting their interests not yours. Unfortunately, contractually, you have nothing to complain about as you are not a party to that contract. However it does seem strange the valuation was reduced by such an amount, on the other hand its even more alarming the Ground Rent was reduced by 50% in only 2 months. 

Marshaltown can I ask why you think that’s alarming. I agree the landlord is being VERY greedy, I suppose he thought he might try his luck with the higher ground rents to see if anybody would lend. 

davidmcn

contento123 said:

Why was £155,000 acceptable two weeks ago but not today? 

Presumably new evidence has arisen in that time, either specific comparables from other sales or the market in general. It won't have been changed for no reason at all.