Natwest - Damp and Timber survey Ready to offer?

Danieljw90

Natwest requested a Damp and Timber survey following the valuation on a property we are buying 

since the request the survey has been done and nothing serious was found,(still awaiting report) it was recommended an air brick installed in a add-on porch so nothing to worry about there very minor work 

my question is would Natwest have requested this if they wasn't happy with everything else? to me it seems excessive requesting £250+ worth of survey for them to refuse an offer based on something else completely un-related? 

K_S

Danieljw90 said:

Natwest requested a Damp and Timber survey following the valuation on a property we are buying 

since the request the survey has been done and nothing serious was found,(still awaiting report) it was recommended an air brick installed in a add-on porch so nothing to worry about there very minor work 

my question is would Natwest have requested this if they wasn't happy with everything else? to me it seems excessive requesting £250+ worth of survey for them to refuse an offer based on something else completely un-related? 

@danieljw90 It'll probably help if I explain how NatWest does the valuation and underwriting part of a typical mortgage application. This is all wrt to how it works as an intermediary, not sure if there are any important differences for direct apps. For context to the below remarks, it might be worth having a look at the service levels here as well
https://www.intermediary.natwest.com/intermediary-solutions/service-levels.html

When the broker submits a full NatWest application, it goes into a queue for initial assessment (currently taking around 5 working days).

When the initial assessment happens, a valuation is instructed and (in parallel) the application passes to the underwriter queue. 

The underwriter queue is currently taking about 16 working days. While the application is sitting in the underwriter queue, it is possible that the valuation is carried out and further action requested (eg: the damp and timber survey). So this doesn't really say anything about the underwriting. Even after the underwriter picks it up, they can raise new queries which will further lengthen the underwriting time.

If, for whatever reason you are concerned about the outcome post underwriting, then it might be worth talking to your broker  (or NatWest if direct) about your concerns and holding back on spending any money on the damp survey until the broker confirms that the income related underwriting is complete and that there are no concerns on that front.

Danieljw90

Thank you that’s really appreciated, I am currently way over day 16 and everything else is ticked on my tracker apart from waiting on this survey report. They did raise a queries in regards to my previous employment that was quickly dealt with and since ticked.