First Time Buyer Broker Problems

Slaked

Long post warning! I'm a first time buyer so just looking for opinions on whether I'm right to feel somewhat aggrieved by my mortgage broker.

Found a 1 bed flat in January. No chain at either end. It has been rented out for many years, landlord is now selling up their entire portfolio. It's on the 5th floor of a 6 storey former council block that's now owned by a housing association. 4 flats per floor. No external walkway to access flats it's all internal access. 4 flats in whole block are privately owned rest are HA tenants. Externally the block looks to have concrete pillars and floors and brickwork walls.

Wanted to use a 10% deposit and the mortgage needed is about 3.75x my salary. Thought I'd use a mortgage broker to make life easier so chose a local independent one with good reviews online.

Had a 45 min zoom meeting with broker where he took all the details, told him what I was looking for and told him the block is owned by a HA and the flat is on 5th floor. He didn't express any concerns whatsoever. He got me an agreement in principle with nationwide the following day. He then sent me his contract and payment details and I transferred the £295 fee.

The following day he emailed me to say there's a problem. Nationwide won't touch that kind of property at all. Ok fair enough but I did tell him in the meeting its a 1960s blocked owned by the a HA.

Told me next he can get the same deal from NatWest. Ok great please go ahead. They go and do a survey then come back and say it's zero valued because there is no recent sales data in the development so they can't prove they'd be able to sell it on if repossessed. Told me don't worry he'll keep looking.

Next tells me Halifax are a possibility but they'd want a 15% deposit and I'd have to pay £200 for the survey. Not particularly impressed by the extra for the deposit and he tells me there's no guarantees on survey but I tell him to go ahead anyway and pay the £200.

Get an answer back on Monday that the mortgage has been rejected because the survey says:
"I have not provided a valuation because the property is not acceptable to the lender due to it not being readily saleable"

Now at this point I'm feeling annoyed. We already knew what kind of property it is so if he's telling me Halifax won't mortgage that kind of property why did he apply to them and why did I pay £200? The survey told us nothing new.

I'm not sure how to approach this now. I know there are concerns with this kind of property which is why I've started looking for something else, but I feel like I've been led down the garden path somewhat. Isn't the broker meant to be the expert? I'm £495 down in broker and survey fees and based on his initial comments I paid £200 deposit to a solicitor. I've also now got 2 hard searches on my credit file.

Does anyone have any advice/opinions on this situation? I know now maybe this flat isn't the best and that's the reason it was relatively cheap and I could be on the hook for major repairs (although it did have a new roof put on recently)

K_S

@slaked Based on the limited info in your post, it looks like your broker *probably* didn't do sufficient due-diligence before placing the case and making the application. It might well be that it just isn't mortgageable at 90% LTV but you certainly don't need this long to be able to determine that.

ACG

I think you are right to be annoyed. 
If I were the broker I would probably:
- Refund the £295. They messed up on day one despite you handing it to them on a plate about the property issues and again with Natwest. 
- £200 val fee to Halifax. I think if they can show they checked the property MAY pass with Halifax, you probably have to write that off, as they have done as much as they can. If they did not check, then they should be refunding it back to you. 
- £200 solicitors. Unless they told you to crack on with the searches, I think you probably need to write that off. You rushed ahead with that and I dont know many brokers who would tell you to instruct the searches without an offer. 

But that is just my opinion. Speak to the broker about your concerns and if you can not agree, ask what their complaints procedure is and make s formal complaint. 

lonibra

A complete Horlicks. The "localness" of brokers is overrated, he only Zoomed you anyway.

You may have saved a few hundred quid using one of the many good brokers who regularly post on this forum.

ACG

lonibra said:

You may have saved a few hundred quid using one of the many good brokers who regularly post on this forum.

doing a better job yourself!