My mortgage advisor made a mistake. How should I proceed here?

DeeEyeNo

I had an offer accepted on a property in May. The chain collapsed in August. My mortage offer is good til the 28th Nov. I spoke to my mortgage advisor and he said that the lender would probably allow the mortgage to be transferred to another property of similar value. I had intially tried contacting the lender (HSBC) myself as the advisor was being very slow responding to my email. They said they couldn't discuss anything in detail with me (it had to go via the broker) but they did confirm that it would be possible to transfer the mortage offer to a new property

I had an offer accepted on a property 2 weeks ago so asked my advisor to see about getting my mortgage offer transferred to the new property. It is not part of a chain so I would easily close before my initial offer ran out.

I've just recieved new mortgage docs from HSBC and the interest rate has increased substantially - a 1.14& increase. I emailed my advisor asking him why this was. He called me back and said it looks like he's made a mistake and requested a new product offer rather than a transfer. He said he'll try to get it resolved but they may not allow it.

What can I do here? 

ACG

The broker has to put you back in the position you would have been had the mistake not happened. 
So try and get HSBC to give you the original product. 
If not, then you get a mortgage and then the broker covers the difference. 

DeeEyeNo

Thanks for the reply. With regards to this..

ACG said:

If not, then you get a mortgage and then the broker covers the difference. 

..how does this work? Do I have to still use this broker for my mortgage in order for this to happen? Do they just calculate the difference between what I will pay for the term of the mortage duration and what I would have paid for the old offer?

user1977

ACG said:

If not, then you get a mortgage and then the broker covers the difference. 

...assuming you are otherwise able to complete by the end of November. I wouldn't be overly certain that being chain-free means it will be plain sailing.

Cloth_of_Gold

user1977 said:

ACG said:

If not, then you get a mortgage and then the broker covers the difference. 

...assuming you are otherwise able to complete by the end of November. I wouldn't be overly certain that being chain-free means it will be plain sailing.

I agree. I know of two recent chain-free purchases that took both four months from offer acceptance to completion. I don't doubt that they can take even longer.

DeeEyeNo

user1977 said:

ACG said:

If not, then you get a mortgage and then the broker covers the difference. 

...assuming you are otherwise able to complete by the end of November. I wouldn't be overly certain that being chain-free means it will be plain sailing.

Yeah I get this but I know the seller is keen to get things moving. They are pushing me to give an entry date. I know there are a myriad of other factors that can affect this though. 

Can I ask why this would make a difference though? Are you saying that I only have recourse from this mistake if I am able to complete before the end of the initial mortgage offer's valid date?

MWT

DeeEyeNo said:

Can I ask why this would make a difference though? Are you saying that I only have recourse from this mistake if I am able to complete before the end of the initial mortgage offer's valid date?

Unless the original offer was capable of being extended, then failure to complete within the validly period would end their liability as you would only have suffered a loss if you could have actually used the original product....

ACG

DeeEyeNo said:

Thanks for the reply. With regards to this..

ACG said:

If not, then you get a mortgage and then the broker covers the difference. 

..how does this work? Do I have to still use this broker for my mortgage in order for this to happen? Do they just calculate the difference between what I will pay for the term of the mortage duration and what I would have paid for the old offer?

If your old mortgage was £1,000 pm and the new one is £1,010 pm fixed for 2 years, they would owe you £10pm for 24 months. They might offer you £200 as a lump sum amount to cut ties, but thats optional on both sides. 

You do not have to go with the old broker, but they could also potentially argue they could have got you a cheaper deal had you stuck with them. 

DeeEyeNo

 as you would only have suffered a loss if you could have actually used the original product....

Not doubting you but isn't this a bit unfair? I was on track to use this original product but due to their mistake, they've made it harder for me to use the original product. We'll now never know whether I could actually have used it. Seems a bit circular to me.

user1977

DeeEyeNo said:

 as you would only have suffered a loss if you could have actually used the original product....

Not doubting you but isn't this a bit unfair? I was on track to use this original product but due to their mistake, they've made it harder for me to use the original product. We'll now never know whether I could actually have used it. Seems a bit circular to me.

We'll know because the timescales of the transaction are not (as far as we can tell from what you've told us) affected by their error. It would be unfair for you to be compensated for not being able to use a mortgage offer which you wouldn't have been able to use anyway.

DeeEyeNo

user1977 said:

DeeEyeNo said:

 as you would only have suffered a loss if you could have actually used the original product....

Not doubting you but isn't this a bit unfair? I was on track to use this original product but due to their mistake, they've made it harder for me to use the original product. We'll now never know whether I could actually have used it. Seems a bit circular to me.

We'll know because the timescales of the transaction are not (as far as we can tell from what you've told us) affected by their error. It would be unfair for you to be compensated for not being able to use a mortgage offer which you wouldn't have been able to use anyway.

I'm still confused. The transaction has been affected by their error. I can no longer get this product so I will need to get a new mortgage offer with a higher interest rate. If he hadn't made this mistake, instead of receiving documents with a new mortgage offer yesterday, I would likely have received documents detailling the transfer of the mortage to the new property and my purchase would have proceeded. Due to his mistake, this can't happen now.

I hope I don't come off as ornery; I'm genuinely confused!

Edit - I think I get it now. Because I got a new mortage offer from them, I can proceed with the sale. If it doesn't close before the 28th Nov then I'd have no claim as it wouldn't have closed even if I'd got the transfer.

But doesn't that limit me with taking that offer? That hardly seems fair. And it hardly seems fair imposing that deadline on me seeking a mortgage elsewhere if I chose to do so. 

But I get it now. Thanks for the replies