Remortgage woes - is this normal?

[toasty]

Having come to the end of a fixed rate period in October, I looked out for the best deal available on Moneysupermarket and applied for that.

I had the application, agreement in principle, the valuation and id checks all complete in November.

Then I hear nothing at all in December.

I phone earlier this month and they say they disagree with their own valuer and have devalued my home but are happy to go ahead with the deal and I'll receive an offer in the post straight away.

A week later and nothing's arrived. Another phone call and get a promise that the case manager will call me back. They didn't.

A call to my solicitor and they've heard nothing so suggest sending them an email cc'ing her in.

Now we get a offer through the post but for £3k less than we requested. I point out their error but am told this is all they're going to offer as they've devalued the house.

Is this regular practice for mortgage lenders? It seems pretty shady to me.

[Countdown]

With Santander by any chance?

That's the experience I had with them

[scotal]

That's shocking. If there was a devaluation they should have talked you through it at least.
I'd start the complaints procedure if I were you.

[Sarnie]

toasty said:

Having come to the end of a fixed rate period in October, I looked out for the best deal available on Moneysupermarket and applied for that.

I had the application, agreement in principle, the valuation and id checks all complete in November.

Then I hear nothing at all in December.

I phone earlier this month and they say they disagree with their own valuer and have devalued my home but are happy to go ahead with the deal and I'll receive an offer in the post straight away.

A week later and nothing's arrived. Another phone call and get a promise that the case manager will call me back. They didn't.

A call to my solicitor and they've heard nothing so suggest sending them an email cc'ing her in.

Now we get a offer through the post but for £3k less than we requested. I point out their error but am told this is all they're going to offer as they've devalued the house.

Is this regular practice for mortgage lenders? It seems pretty shady to me.

The service is indicative of the industry to be honest.

To be fair though, I've never had a lender further downvalue a valuation! What grounds did they give? Did you pay for the valuation? The valuation is supposed to be from an independant source, who is not in cahoots with neither the customer nor the mortgage company. So for them to take it upon themselves to further down value the property dilutes the whole 'independence' of the valuer as they has just over ruled them with their own figures

[toasty]

Yes I had to pay for the valuer (about £450) and I assumed he was independent but I paid through the Building Society. I've also paid £195 to them for another fee but I don't recall off hand for what.

I would love to back out now but it's still the best deal on offer.

[scotal]

Have you had sight of the valuation?
I'd be contesting the downvaluatuion if I were you.


(The £195 was a booking fee. If you pull uout you've lost both)

[toasty]

scotal said:

Have you had sight of the valuation?
I'd be contesting the downvaluatuion if I were you.


(The £195 was a booking fee. If you pull uout you've lost both)

Thanks, I've had no sight of the valuation. I'll ask to see a copy and a reason for the downvaluation when I speak to them later.

[scotal]

toasty said:

Thanks, I've had no sight of the valuation. I'll ask to see a copy and a reason for the downvaluation when I speak to them later.

That will be an interesting conversation.
Let us know how you get on, professional curiosity.
I've never heard of a valuers figure being downvalued by a lender.

[Sarnie]

scotal said:

That will be an interesting conversation.
Let us know how you get on, professional curiosity.
I've never heard of a valuers figure being downvalued by a lender.

Me neither.

I'm intrigued also. Why would someone who has not been to the property and (presumably) is not a qualified Surveyor, over rule someone that has and is??

OP, What was the original valuation and what did they downvalue it to?

[toasty]

£360K down to £330K.

£360K was the original estimate that I supplied, which matched with mouseprice.com at the time.

Although the surveyor said he agreed with the valuation, I'm guessing from your responses that he probably downvalued it himself. If so, my apologies for giving you the wrong idea.

I hope to find out later when and if I get the call.

[scotal]

toasty said:

Although the surveyor said he agreed with the valuation, I'm guessing from your responses that he probably downvalued it himself. If so, my apologies for giving you the wrong idea.

If that's the case its not unusual for a valuer to say nice things to the applicant and different things to the lender.
You can challenge a valuation, you will almost certainly get nowhere.

[Sarnie]

toasty said:

£360K down to £330K.

£360K was the original estimate that I supplied, which matched with mouseprice.com at the time.

Although the surveyor said he agreed with the valuation, I'm guessing from your responses that he probably downvalued it himself. If so, my apologies for giving you the wrong idea.

I hope to find out later when and if I get the call.

Ahhhh, all has become clear.

I've had dozens of cases where the valuer has said all the right stuff to the clients (remember he's not going to see the clients again!!) and then provided differring information/figures to a lender.

As Scotal says, you can appeal it, but you have next to zero chance of convincing a Surveyor that they are wrong. I had one recently with a semi detacthed property where the house next door sold 6 weeks prior for £155k and he downvalued our property (which was a mirror image of the £155k property) to £140k!!!

[toasty]

Thanks for your input guys, I fear I may have been a bit naive when it comes to the valuation.

It still seems strange that the BS would make a fuss over £3k when it works out at less than £10 a month and I've been paying £500/month more than that faultlessly for the previous lender on a 3 year deal.

If it comes down to it I'll scrape up the 3k from savings but it's money I'd rather not spend unless I have to.

[scotal]

toasty said:

Thanks for your input guys, I fear I may have been a bit naive when it comes to the valuation.

It still seems strange that the BS would make a fuss over £3k when it works out at less than £10 a month and I've been paying £500/month more than that faultlessly for the previous lender on a 3 year deal.

If it comes down to it I'll scrape up the 3k from savings but it's money I'd rather not spend unless I have to.

Ah, well, now Mr Toasty, we can offer you the extra 3k, but'll put the whole mortgage in the next tier up. The rate will rise accordingly, as will the monthly payment.

(That's roughly how the conversation will go.) Happy to have a look at it if you like.

[toasty]

scotal said:

Ah, well, now Mr Toasty, we can offer you the extra 3k, but'll put the whole mortgage in the next tier up. The rate will rise accordingly, as will the monthly payment.

(That's roughly how the conversation will go.) Happy to have a look at it if you like.

Yes, that's what I'm expecting and if they won't budge I'll cough up the 3k rather than give them that option.

I'll find out tomorrow as I had to postpone the call.

Many thanks for the offer of help but hopefully all will be resolved tomorrow.

[Nickyboy]

Santander devalued mine by nearly £20k when i remortgaged despite me having refused an offer when i was looking to sell for the higher price.

[toasty]

Update. I spoke to the manager this morning and she effectively said 'Like it or lump it'.

The valuation was £30k short of my expectation but apparently the initial call I'd received to say that everything was OK was in error as they'd reduced the LTV limit from 75% to 70% and that may have not been taken into consideration.

Despite this, I've decided to take the hit to accept the offer and pay the shortfall, albeit very grudgingly.

Thanks for your advice guys, much appreciated.