Halifax now refusing to mortgage our property

Thrugelmir

Slithery said:

I find it impossible to believe that Halifax haven't changed their lending criteria at all in the last 3 years.

Criteria can be as basic as to much exposure in a given Post Code. 

TXC

Snookie12cat said:

NiseMya said:

user1977 said:

That's not really what "mis-selling" means.

If it was suitable for them when you bought, and now isn't, then obviously either something has changed in their criteria, or the valuers had different opinions about the property. Haven't your buyers investigated other lenders? 

Luckily we are using the same mortgage broker now as we did 3 years ago and she is the one who told us to raise the complaint as she has investigated herself and told us that something doesn’t add up. 

She potentially found one other lender to try but our buyer has now pulled out due to the hassle of all this. 

Your buyer couldnt have been all that serious if they wouldnt even try another lender...

why should they? If I was passed for a very favourable rate with lender A, but only lender B with an increased rate found the property to be mortgageable I too would pull out.

TBG01

Curious as to why the broker feels it's okay to share their clients data with you.

Jumblebumble

NiseMya said:

canaldumidi said:

NiseMya said:

Nothing has changed in that time to Halifax’s policy on this property type. 

How can you be sure of this? Lenders do change their lending criteria regularly.

What type of property is it? Is it located above/near a commercial business?

Are you sure of the reason given? 'Unsuitable'. Presumably this came from the buyer? They may have misunderstood, or, indeed, deliberately mis-advised you eg they've changed their minds or actually been turned down on affordability grounds but embarassed to say this.

Our mortgage broker who sourced the mortgage 3 years ago and is looking into our new mortgage told us the policy hasn’t changed. 

Our buyer was also using her for the mortgage as recommend through our estate agent and she is the one who told us to raise this as a complaint as it doesn’t add up. 

It seems like your mortgage broker is mistaken

Jumblebumble

Seb3013 said:

So I messaged as you lot appear to be missing the point / haven’t got the context. 

If Halifax said they don’t lend on it anymore then that would be fine. Or if they said we don’t lend the the buyer, thats fine.  However, they said they do not lend on the property when the policy hasn’t changed. 

So now you have context, you can maybe give some constructive opinions back, and not stuff about the buyer, as like I said, he was in a much better position as us, and really wanted it and was very pateinet with it all. But it took too long and obvs got worried with the saleability 

How do you know that the policy has not changed?
( The broker told me does not count as they cannot know what policies Halifax may have changed that are kept confidential within the company )

SpiderLegs

This broker sounds like complete garbage to me.
Trying to deflect some fantasy blame onto the Halifax when they should have been telling the OP three years ago that the property was potentially going to be a problem further down the line.

I’ve no idea what potential #compo the OP is expecting from any complaint.

74jax

SpiderLegs said:

This broker sounds like complete garbage to me.
Trying to deflect some fantasy blame onto the Halifax when they should have been telling the OP three years ago that the property was potentially going to be a problem further down the line.

I’ve no idea what potential #compo the OP is expecting from any complaint.

I agree. Seems to be sharing way too much information too....... 

lookstraightahead

Op, a bank doesn't provide mortgages for your benefit, they do it to make money. When you took out your mortgage, they assessed the risk and decided it was ok, now it appears THEY don't want to take that risk.

Difficult situation, but that's just how it is.

[Deleted User]

It's a flat. Nothing can convince them it's not going to be worthless tomorrow.

[Deleted User]

Brokers dont get notified on tweaks to lenders criteria on this level. This would be something they would have told the surveying panel around.  The lender doesnt even do a survey, the surveying company do it on behalf of the lender.  

Halifax dont actually have that many exclusions on property.  They simply ask the surveyor to confirm the property is readily sellable.  They want it to sell quickly.  Some surveyors are more cautious than others. 

I had a flat in a city centre with 9 offers on it get a delined survey as they said it wasnt readily sellable in the open market.   

You have no complaint as you are not party to the decision
The lender passes the liability to the surveyor to make these decisions for them 
Brokers dont have a list of every internal change that a lender makes.  

Halifax could have literally said 'Hi Valuers, we are overexposed on flats at the moment so can you be really tight on valuations for the time being. especially if its above something non residential'  

People complaining to the ombudsman when they have no complaint is why they have such a massive backlog at the moment.