Mortgage Prisoner - but mortgage lender it seems made a mistake lending in the first place.

bobilishious

Quite an unusual query but wondering if anyone might have any suggestions.
Bought my property a few years ago and the surveys etc. were all fine, seemed fairly straightforward and i went and got a mortgage with my high street lender (Virgin Money), decent rate, fixed deal for 5 years - no problem.
Fast forward a few years and my fixed deal is coming to an end and i want to remortgage - what has out of nowhere appeared is that my surveyors missed that my property was a PRC (prefabricated reinforced concrete home) and doesn't have the correct certification which theoretically should make it unmortgagable and in speaking with several lenders now - it basically is unmortageable.
The further complication i have is that Virgin Money instructed their own surveyor to look at the property at the time of purchase - which at the time was a non-disclose report which i had no chance to see - but i have a copy now and their surveyor did pick up on the fact it was PRC and didn't have certification etc. but Virgin Moneys underwriters it seems have accidentally let this slip through the net and have agreed to lend on it. They will not allow me to remortage on it now however and nor, quite rightly it seems, will anyone else.
I obviously am in the process of taking legal action against my own surveyor but in the meantime i'm about to switch to Virgin's standard variable rate which will mean i'll be paying an extra £450 in interest every month and i'm completely trapped until i resolve something with the surveyor which my solicitor says could take years rather than months (and no guarantee i'll win either).
Does my lender have any liability whatsoever?
The surveyor has obviously put me in the position in the first place (as i wouldn't have offered on the property had i known) but Virgin lending on it seems to contradict their own lending criteria and they have effectively trapped me in this mortgage which i have no way of getting out of.
My credit rating has improved in the past 5 years, my salary has increased, my LTV has improved and it doesn't appear their criteria has changed so if they offered a mortgage on it 5 years ago i don't understand why that would change now - which is why i think they have made a mistake.
Anyone any experience with something like this?

MWT

bobilishious said:

They will not allow me to remortage on it now however and nor, quite rightly it seems, will anyone else.

Have they also refused to let you do a product switch online?

That doesn't require a 'remortgage' it is usually just an online option to pick a new product without any of the checks and qualifications that a remortgage would require.

Thrugelmir

bobilishious said:

Fast forward a few years and my fixed deal is coming to an end and i want to remortgage - what has out of nowhere appeared is that my surveyors missed that my property was a PRC (prefabricated reinforced concrete home) and doesn't have the correct certification which theoretically should make it unmortgagable and in speaking with several lenders now - it basically is unmortageable.

Lending criteria doesn't remain static. What's acceptable in the past may not be in the future. Surveyor did nothing wrong at the time. 

vacheron

Virgin can mortgage any property they wish at their own risk. Even if their own survey tells them that it is, at that very minute, sliding into the sea, they can still choose to mortgage it, it is just that as the risk is so large they "probably" wouldn't. They can also then revise their decision for any future applications.

At least it was good to read that you had your own survey done to protect you and not the lender... otherwise you would have no recourse at all, and I know many people who didn't do this simply because "I already paid for for the mortgage lenders survey, so I'm not paying for another one!" 

ACG

Lenders can make exceptions to their own criteria, their criteria also changes over time - but I doubt this is one of those things that would have changed. Their valuation was for their benefit, not yours. 

Your complaint would be against your surveyor in my opinion. 

bobilishious

Thrugelmir said:

bobilishious said:

Fast forward a few years and my fixed deal is coming to an end and i want to remortgage - what has out of nowhere appeared is that my surveyors missed that my property was a PRC (prefabricated reinforced concrete home) and doesn't have the correct certification which theoretically should make it unmortgagable and in speaking with several lenders now - it basically is unmortageable.

Lending criteria doesn't remain static. What's acceptable in the past may not be in the future. Surveyor did nothing wrong at the time. 

The surveyor completely missed that the property was of non-standard construction so it's more so that I and my conveyancer were unable to make an informed decision on the property as they completely misreported on it.

bobilishious

MWT said:

bobilishious said:

They will not allow me to remortage on it now however and nor, quite rightly it seems, will anyone else.

Have they also refused to let you do a product switch online?

That doesn't require a 'remortgage' it is usually just an online option to pick a new product without any of the checks and qualifications that a remortgage would require.

I didn't even realise this was an option as i've only spoken to them on the phone thus far. I'll get an online portal set up and see if there is anything there.
Thank you for this.

Thrugelmir

bobilishious said:

Thrugelmir said:

bobilishious said:

Fast forward a few years and my fixed deal is coming to an end and i want to remortgage - what has out of nowhere appeared is that my surveyors missed that my property was a PRC (prefabricated reinforced concrete home) and doesn't have the correct certification which theoretically should make it unmortgagable and in speaking with several lenders now - it basically is unmortageable.

Lending criteria doesn't remain static. What's acceptable in the past may not be in the future. Surveyor did nothing wrong at the time. 

I and my conveyancer were unable to make an informed decision on the property as they completely misreported on it.

Surveyor was employed by the lender and was asked to consider whether the property was adequate security for the mortgage advance. That was there remit. Your conveyancer handles the legal aspects for both the lender and yourself.  As they never see the property they don't become involved in the detail of construction etc. 

getmore4less

bobilishious said:

Thrugelmir said:

bobilishious said:

Fast forward a few years and my fixed deal is coming to an end and i want to remortgage - what has out of nowhere appeared is that my surveyors missed that my property was a PRC (prefabricated reinforced concrete home) and doesn't have the correct certification which theoretically should make it unmortgagable and in speaking with several lenders now - it basically is unmortageable.

Lending criteria doesn't remain static. What's acceptable in the past may not be in the future. Surveyor did nothing wrong at the time. 

The surveyor completely missed that the property was of non-standard construction so it's more so that I and my conveyancer were unable to make an informed decision on the property as they completely misreported on it.

as there seems to be two surveyors you need to be clear which one you are talking about at any one time.

The further complication i have is that Virgin Money instructed their own surveyor to look at the property at the time of purchase - which at the time was a non-disclose report which i had no chance to see - but i have a copy now and their surveyor did pick up on the fact it was PRC and didn't have certification etc. but Virgin Moneys underwriters it seems have accidentally let this slip through the net and have agreed to lend on it.

that mortgage does not disappear and you should have the retention deal option.
If they have blocked you may be able to challenge that as being unfair they took on the risk so should honour that with current deals

Useful that you have a report from the same period that supports that YOUR OWN surveyor missed the construction.