Useless Mortgage Valuation..... now what?

SG0999

Buyers of my property had their bank surveyor come in for a valuation. I let them in and left them to it, and they were gone in 10 minutes.

Received a call from my estate agent, that the valuation is 30k lower than the sold price. Upon the EA reading the report, they found that the surveyor has stated my property is terraced not semi detached, and that I have a single garage not double!!

Not really sure how you can mistake the two.

My question is; can the buyer send their surveyor out again.... preferably one that is capable of doing their job?

springmagpie

Does the report have the right address? Maybe it's for a different property?

mm1985

We had a similar issue. Thankfully it was a private survey after the bank had already valued the property and offered the mortgage. We had a homebuyers report and valuation done on the property we are buying. The surveyor was apparently rude snd did not communicate with the home owners at all. He estimated the age of the property as being built in 2003 (it was built in 1960) and suggester we proceed with caution due possible subsidence. This lead us to spend extra getting a structural engineer out who confirmed there is definitely so subsidence or signs of subsidence. It took over two weeks for us to get our survey report and I am guessing the report was written so long after the surveyor went over he couldn’t actually remember the property.

The demand for surveyors is unbelievably high at the moment and my suspicion is they are going for quantity over quality.

AdrianC

SG0999 said:

My question is; can the buyer send their surveyor out again.... preferably one that is capable of doing their job?

Of course they can.

If this was a lender valuation, then the lender is the surveyor's customer...
They need to get on the phone to the lender and explain, calmly, that they think the surveyor may have been mistaken and they'd appreciate another attempt being taken.

princeofpounds

The buyer can ask the bank to reconsider in light of the substantial factual inaccuracies in their survey (and they should). As a vendor, you have every reason to push back on the valuation given its inaccurate basis. That doesn't mean the valuation is actually wrong, although it's quite possible that it is.

Unfortunately I can probably predict what will happen. The buyers will contact the bank, the bank will contact the surveyor, and the surveyor will claim that it was a couple of 'typos' in the report (possibly caused by ticking the wrong boxes in the automatic report-writing software)  but that they stand by their valuation.

But it's worth trying anyway.

SG0999

Thanks all for the feedback. I believe the buyer is going to speak to their lender regarding the issue. And if they still disagree they will be switching lenders as they are intent on purchasing our property. 

100% believe that the property has been misvalued given that there are three properties on my road (all smaller by a considerable amount and have no garage) which are listed at £330-£350k. A house opposite me which was slightly larger sold for £375k a few months ago. We sold in the end for £345k which is bang in the middle of those sold and those listed. 

newsgroupmonkey_

Yup, unfortunately the buyer is going to have to raise a PVQ (Post Valuation Query). As someone said, that's not to say that they won't change their minds. It'll then be up to you whether to drop the price or remarket.

There's nothing to stop you phoning your local surveyor and asking for a valuation for your own peace of mind.

Marshaltown

Couple of anomalies here. The Surveyor acts on behalf of only the Mortgage Lender and most certainly not the purchaser.  The Estate Agent, acting on behalf of the Vendor, claims to have read a copy of the Mortgage Valuation report. How is this possible when they have no contractural relationship with the Mortgage Lender?

NameUnavailable

So it the house semi detached and does it have a double garage? Any reasons why the surveyor might have described it differently (i.e. some end of terrace houses are listed as semi detached, and some single garages are sold as 'doubles' because they're a few foot longer than a standard garage).

davidmcn

Marshaltown said:

Couple of anomalies here. The Surveyor acts on behalf of only the Mortgage Lender and most certainly not the purchaser.  The Estate Agent, acting on behalf of the Vendor, claims to have read a copy of the Mortgage Valuation report. How is this possible when they have no contractural relationship with the Mortgage Lender?

They may be arranging the mortgage for the buyer. 

lookstraightahead

We are a buyer and expect the same to happen which is why we have a big deposit. Lenders are understandably cautious because I don't think anyone knows diddely squat about what anything is worth at the moment and is only worth what it's worth to the buyer. 
Having said that yours describes a different building which is unbelievable!