15% deposit for maisonette

Rumana03

So we have just been told by our mortgage broker that Nationwide have classed the property we are buying as a maisonette so are now asking for 15% deposit (instead of the 10% they agreed in the mortgage in principle). The broker is going to appeal this...has anyone had a similar issue and was the appeal successful? Thanks

housebuyer143

Rumana03 said:

So we have just been told by our mortgage broker that Nationwide have classed the property we are buying as a maisonette so are now asking for 15% deposit (instead of the 10% they agreed in the mortgage in principle). The broker is going to appeal this...has anyone had a similar issue and was the appeal successful? Thanks

Is the property a maisonette or a house? Surely is difficult to be confused over this? 

Rumana03

The advert for the property said house. At no point were we told it was classed as a maisonette. The leasehold paperwork just came through last week and that says on it that it is a maisonette. The thing is we did not know that otherwise obviously we could have looked at a different bank for the mortgage. Now we are almost at the end of the purchase and this is going to be a massive issue for us. Our seller is almost at the end of purchasing a property and she needs us to buy quickly.

eddddy

Rumana03 said:

The leasehold paperwork just came through last week and that says on it that it is a maisonette.

What paperwork was that? Has the lender's surveyor visited the property? If so, did they describe it as a maisonette or a house?

As an example, in most leasehold legislation, a property cannot be a 'house' if it's divided horizontally. i.e. There is a different property above or below your property. Does that apply?


But Nationwide are free to use a different definition of 'House', 'Maisonette' etc, if they want.

K_S

@rumana03 As far as Nationwide (and most other lenders) are concerned, maisonettes are treated the same as flats, as you can see on the valuer form below. The DIP depends on what you key in, so if you keyed it in as a terraced house, then that's what it will assume until the valuation comes through.

Assuming that this is a non-new-build property, I am quite surprised to hear about the 85% LTV cap though, I wasn't aware of that to be a standard criteria. Will either applicant own another property other than this even after completion? Did the broker just say it was simply to the property being a flat/maisonette and not a house? Anything unusual or non-standard about the construction type?

I always ask the client to send me the Rightmove listing and normally it's quite evident whether the property is a house or a flat. But if the listing said house and there was nothing on the ad to indicate otherwise, can't really blame the broker for not considering it before recommending a lender.

Rumana03

eddddy said:

Rumana03 said:

The leasehold paperwork just came through last week and that says on it that it is a maisonette.

What paperwork was that? Has the lender's surveyor visited the property? If so, did they describe it as a maisonette or a house?

As an example, in most leasehold legislation, a property cannot be a 'house' if it's divided horizontally. i.e. There is a different property above or below your property. Does that apply?


But Nationwide are free to use a different definition of 'House', 'Maisonette' etc, if they want.

The property is a weird shape because on the right side bottom of the property is the drive through part for parking which is behind the property's garden...there is parking space and garages for the houses next to this property. So the top part of the property is bigger than the bottom part. 

Rumana03

Property was built in 1997/1998 so it's not that old. As far as I am aware the owner will only own one property after they sell this and my husband will also own one property (first time buyer)..does this make a difference? 

And this is the message the broker sent my husband...

housebuyer143

Rumana03 said:

eddddy said:

Rumana03 said:

The leasehold paperwork just came through last week and that says on it that it is a maisonette.

What paperwork was that? Has the lender's surveyor visited the property? If so, did they describe it as a maisonette or a house?

As an example, in most leasehold legislation, a property cannot be a 'house' if it's divided horizontally. i.e. There is a different property above or below your property. Does that apply?


But Nationwide are free to use a different definition of 'House', 'Maisonette' etc, if they want.

The property is a weird shape because on the right side bottom of the property is the drive through part for parking which is behind the property's garden...there is parking space and garages for the houses next to this property. So the top part of the property is bigger than the bottom part. 

See, I would consider that a flat, especially if it's leasehold. The agent describing it as a house though you may have cause for misrepresentation. 

Not a lot you can do tbh. If nationwide have decided it's a flat then that's their criteria, you will be hard pressed to change their mind. Be sure to tell the seller the delay is wholely their fault for not representing the property correctly. 

K_S

@Rumana03 Coach-house flat, flying free-hold, etc are the kind of things that came to mind when I saw the picture. Definitely something that I would expect the broker to dig into before placing the case, that's assuming they looked the property up on RM/Zoopla.

Nationwide even offer a pre-valuation enquiry service to brokers for precisely these kind of situations https://www.nationwide-intermediary.co.uk/-/media/NFI/documents/db62-pre-valuation-property-form.pdf

If the buyers are FTBs then the second property issue doesn't come into the picture.

Rumana03

K_S said:

@Rumana03 Coach-house flat, flying free-hold, etc are the kind of things that came to mind when I saw the picture. Definitely something that I would expect the broker to dig into before placing the case, that's assuming they looked the property up on RM/Zoopla.

Nationwide even offer a pre-valuation enquiry service to brokers for precisely these kind of situations https://www.nationwide-intermediary.co.uk/-/media/NFI/documents/db62-pre-valuation-property-form.pdf

If the buyers are FTBs then the second property issue doesn't come into the picture.

Will the broker be able to use the property advert to help with the appeal? As it was clearly listed as a house.

K_S

Rumana03 said:

K_S said:

@Rumana03 Coach-house flat, flying free-hold, etc are the kind of things that came to mind when I saw the picture. Definitely something that I would expect the broker to dig into before placing the case, that's assuming they looked the property up on RM/Zoopla.

Nationwide even offer a pre-valuation enquiry service to brokers for precisely these kind of situations https://www.nationwide-intermediary.co.uk/-/media/NFI/documents/db62-pre-valuation-property-form.pdf

If the buyers are FTBs then the second property issue doesn't come into the picture.

Will the broker be able to use the property advert to help with the appeal? As it was clearly listed as a house.

@rumana03 I wouldn't expect that to be a valid reason. In any case, as it is a flat/maisonette in fact, that's what Nationwide will treat it as.

To be honest I'm not entirely sure what the appeal is based on and whether he's appealing the valuation or something else. Nationwide's valuation appeal criteria is given here https://www.nationwide-intermediary.co.uk/lending-criteria/property-and-constructions#valAppeal