Unfair house valuation - WWYD?

[Klaudiagal]

We have bought a 4 bed property less than 2 years ago in Teddington for 550k. It was in a very bad state, but since then we insulated the house from outside, insulated the attic, changed roof over extension, rewired, changed Lino flooring into oak wood and porcelain tiles, new bathrooms, new kitchen, replastered walls and ceilings and put a beautiful bifold doors to patio.. according to property price index, the value of property went up to 588k (did not take into account any work we did), but in the meantime we had 3 estate agent valuations between 680k to 735k (this one last week).
As we are planning to remortgage soon, we requested property valuation from our current mortgage providers, for which we were charged over £500, and we estimated the property value at 700k based on previous valuations. They sent a 20-sth year old girl who obviously was very inexperienced (she asked whether the house was built in 1998, when it is built in 70s and previous surveyor even gave us an exact year based on the specific way it was constructed). I can add that the house is in Teddington 5 minutes from Thames and bushy park, so definitely not an area that decreased in value recently. We got valuation updated today to 580k!! Less than what property price index would suggest!!! And after all the extensive renovations we did.
I called the bank and asked whether they can request a reasoning behind going that low, especially that the house next door is on the market for over 700k, but they refused to do anything or provide any details behind this valuation.
AIBU thinking that since I paid £500 for this valuation, I should have a document showing the reasoning behind it?
What do I do now? Can I put a complaint? I think it is just a blatant incompetence OR bank trying to get more expensive mortgage out of me. Anybody can advice ? Mumsnetters, please help, I am just gobsmacked!

Said an experienced valuator;)

Do yourself a favour and read few comments here of people who actually do this job.

I know London property. Better than some valuers. A modern box in Teddington will not increase in mortgage survey value terms by nearly 100k in 2 years with no extra floorspace.

I’m just trying being realistic so you’re not disappointed.

[quote RedMarauder]@Africa2go you clearly don't know the range about the range of ex-council housing in London then.

I know people who live in ex-council housing that is Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian as well as from different decades in the 20th Century.

Part of the problem surveyors have in parts of London is that some of ex-council properties are unique in their design, so when they do a valuation it is hard to find comparators.[/quote]
Well, I lived in an ex-council house in London (as a rental) whilst I was looking to buy. Watched property prices pretty much daily. I stand by my comment that location is key, an ex-council property on a council estate regardless of whether it's Georgian, Victorian or whatever isn't comparable to a non-ex council / council estate property.

Not wanting to diss your house, op, but there will absolutely be a ceiling price on that street.

If you want to complain all surveyors must follow the their complaints handling procedure as set out by RICS. Ask them for a copy of it, if you feel it isn’t being followed complain directly to RICS.

@sipsmith1

If you want to complain all surveyors must follow the their complaints handling procedure as set out by RICS. Ask them for a copy of it, if you feel it isn’t being followed complain directly to RICS.

What is RICS?

Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

I realise I'm just adding to the chorus but it's absolutely insane that you can get a 4 bed in Teddington for under £600k. I just don't believe it. Like @Frannyhy, we sold my Nanna's 3 bedroom terrace in Teddington (admittedly a nice area) for £650k and that was 15 years ago!

@Africa2go

Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

Thanks!

Ah ok, thanks op, I didn’t realise that on mortgages and have had one or the other for nearly thirty years 🤯

Could the decline in values that the pp posted, of 15 percent be impacting.

So if you paid 550 , take away say just under ten percent takes you to five hundred, add you’re improvements, ans she’s valued at 580? If you’d done nothing it would be worth about 475 to 500?

@Blimeyoreilly2020

I’m actually quite amazed at the number of people who aren’t aware that your mortgage interest rate will be better (/lower) the more equity in your property you own, obv totally understandable for those who’ve never had a mortgage though. Our best ever rate tracked 0.5% below base rate - was a true gift when rates plunged post 2008 crisis🤣....but when I complain these days my Mum reminds me that way back when they were paying 17%😱...

Me too - it's simply LTV and it's how they differentiate between what mortgage you can get.

I do wonder if it's quite common with these sorts of valuations - we were strongly encouraged to stick with the desktop valuation rather than a full survey even though we'd done a reasonable amount of structural work, and it was emphasised that if we had an actual valuation we had to stick with that figure, up or down, whereas if we had a desktop valuation we could go with that or use our existing valuation

That valuation is ludicrous.

I sold a flat right by you 6 years ago and a house where you are was up for sale for £650k. I wanted to stay in the area but we just couldn’t stretch to it.

Utterly bonkers.

@Bluntness100

Ah ok, thanks op, I didn’t realise that on mortgages and have had one or the other for nearly thirty years 🤯

Could the decline in values that the pp posted, of 15 percent be impacting.

So if you paid 550 , take away say just under ten percent takes you to five hundred, add you’re improvements, ans she’s valued at 580? If you’d done nothing it would be worth about 475 to 500?

The property price index reflects all that, so basically shows the average price increase in area. And it does not include obviously any improvement done to it. So - just based on that I should have higher valuation than what I got.

@Klaudiagal - I can see you replied to me on the other thread but you’ve created your own so I’m replying on here instead so as not to derail the other thread.

I understand entirely why you’d like to see the valuation report, especially since you have paid for it. And it’s natural to want to see how and what information the surveyors used to reach their property valuation figure. However, the valuation was instructed by Natwest for the sole purpose of considering whether to grant a remortgage on the security of the property. It isn’t clear whether NatWest are your current lender i.e. you’re changing your deal or if you are remortgaging. But there is no obligation on NatWest or the surveyors to provide details, as you were not the party instructing the surveyors in this instance. This is the issue and why I suspect NatWest haven’t been forthcoming. But I think I read earlier in the thread that you may have the option to appeal so if it was me I’d go down that route first.

If it helps, I’ve remortgaged five times and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the valuation report for the lenders purposes.

I'm surprised a 4 bed ex council house so far from London is worth that much. I live in zone 2 and it's cheaper here.

[quote fairydustandsparkle]@Klaudiagal - I can see you replied to me on the other thread but you’ve created your own so I’m replying on here instead so as not to derail the other thread.

I understand entirely why you’d like to see the valuation report, especially since you have paid for it. And it’s natural to want to see how and what information the surveyors used to reach their property valuation figure. However, the valuation was instructed by Natwest for the sole purpose of considering whether to grant a remortgage on the security of the property. It isn’t clear whether NatWest are your current lender i.e. you’re changing your deal or if you are remortgaging. But there is no obligation on NatWest or the surveyors to provide details, as you were not the party instructing the surveyors in this instance. This is the issue and why I suspect NatWest haven’t been forthcoming. But I think I read earlier in the thread that you may have the option to appeal so if it was me I’d go down that route first.

If it helps, I’ve remortgaged five times and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the valuation report for the lenders purposes.[/quote]
Hey, thanks for replying.
Yeah, I got a confirmation from valuators that since I actually paid for it this documentation should be legally provided to me (it is different when bank pays for it). Also I already talked to one of the managers in Natwest after I raised complaint about that and he was apologising for this very fact and agreed I should have been given it in the first place. So yes, if you pay for valuation and you don't get valuation report, it is not legal..

@hibbledibble

I'm surprised a 4 bed ex council house so far from London is worth that much. I live in zone 2 and it's cheaper here.

Teddington is very expensive sadly... I am not commenting on where you live, but I also lived in zone 2, and it was cheaper than here. Also - Teddington is still part of Richmond Borough and it is therefore part of London (at least theoretically, as my personal rule of thumb is: if it has Tube, it is London, and we are just outside of it:)

[quote fairydustandsparkle]@Klaudiagal - I can see you replied to me on the other thread but you’ve created your own so I’m replying on here instead so as not to derail the other thread.

I understand entirely why you’d like to see the valuation report, especially since you have paid for it. And it’s natural to want to see how and what information the surveyors used to reach their property valuation figure. However, the valuation was instructed by Natwest for the sole purpose of considering whether to grant a remortgage on the security of the property. It isn’t clear whether NatWest are your current lender i.e. you’re changing your deal or if you are remortgaging. But there is no obligation on NatWest or the surveyors to provide details, as you were not the party instructing the surveyors in this instance. This is the issue and why I suspect NatWest haven’t been forthcoming. But I think I read earlier in the thread that you may have the option to appeal so if it was me I’d go down that route first.

If it helps, I’ve remortgaged five times and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the valuation report for the lenders purposes.[/quote]
And thank you for coming to this thread- I never meant to post in other one, it was a mistake:)

@Africa2go

Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

Had that drummed into me before I sat my APC.

@LesserBother

I do wonder if it's quite common with these sorts of valuations - we were strongly encouraged to stick with the desktop valuation rather than a full survey even though we'd done a reasonable amount of structural work, and it was emphasised that if we had an actual valuation we had to stick with that figure, up or down, whereas if we had a desktop valuation we could go with that or use our existing valuation

In my case the 2 options were: 1. Rely on property purchase price bumped by property price index or 2. Get the valuation done. Since we did the work on property we wanted that to be included in the valuation, hence we went for option 2. They did say that I have to accept the price given by specialists but I still have right to query it and they have to validate even outside of what they provided in standard report.

I've named changed for this - I live on your estate OP (although not on the road of my username). We have a 3 bed, and although we have done some decorative work, replaced the conservatory for a more modern one, and floor boarded the loft so we can use it as an office/extra living space, we would not spend any more that this as there is absolutely a ceiling price on these properties - despite how the rest of Teddington properties have risen. Having said that though, I do think prices in Teddington are falling - friends of ours bought on York Road for almost £700k in 2016/7, and a house identical to theirs is now on for £629k. I've noticed properties in Teddington get reduced quite a lot from their initial listing on Rightmove - particularly if they are on with Dexters who seem to over value. So your bank's valuation may not been too off. An uplift of £30k in two years seems fair to me.
But you do still have the right to see their valuation!

@BorlandRd

That’s very interesting - maybe I can afford to move back one day if that’s the case!

The property price index reflects all that, so basically shows the average price increase in area. And it does not include obviously any improvement done to it. So - just based on that I should have higher valuation than what I got.

I don't really understand this. Prices went down by probably around 17K for your home last year. So you think it went up by 55K in the 9 months before that in order to have still gone up by 38K after recent value decrease. Is that right? And then you're hoping to get around 60K or more of increased value related to the house improvements too. Is that right? Was the market really buoyant enough to achieve a 10% value increase in the first 9 months after you bought it? What's the source of your info for that increase?

@allaboutthecrisps

The property price index reflects all that, so basically shows the average price increase in area. And it does not include obviously any improvement done to it. So - just based on that I should have higher valuation than what I got.

I don't really understand this. Prices went down by probably around 17K for your home last year. So you think it went up by 55K in the 9 months before that in order to have still gone up by 38K after recent value decrease. Is that right? And then you're hoping to get around 60K or more of increased value related to the house improvements too. Is that right? Was the market really buoyant enough to achieve a 10% value increase in the first 9 months after you bought it? What's the source of your info for that increase?

The question is where did you get the info that the prices went down by 17k?

The question is where did you get the info that the prices went down by 17k?

Zoopla. It said that average prices went down by average of 15K in your postcode but your house is above average value in that postcode hence my estimate of 17K.