Any ideas how to ensure the house valuation is on the low side?

[Iliveinahovel]

I need a valuation to be on the low side for the house I now live in. Not out-of-this-world low, but somewhere realistic, i.e. 10% to 15% lower than an "average" similar house would be valued at. Currently the house is probably "average" with respect to the overall appeal and condition.

Have around 6 months until the valuation will be done. Any ideas? Let the garden overgrow?

I have a friend who’s a surveyor, and depending on people’s circumstances, and whether he likes them or not (offer drinks and biscuits), he’ll adjust a bit up or down to help them out. 15% would be a lot tho. I’d try and do some low grade surface damage…

Are there any structural issues you can tell the surveyor about? Any planning permission you didn’t get? Any disputes with neighbours you can generate?
There's a flat felt roof on the (pre-existing) extension that genuinely leaks. Not sure whether is worth much.

I'd also contact a couple of estate agents NOT on the list and quietly get a 'starting' valuation' if you haven't done so already. At least it'll give you a jumping off point. Then you can ask those agents (since they won't be asked to do the actual valuations) how to 'reduce' the value.
Well, time for a drip feed! I already did that (got a valuation from an agent, however, it was one from the list). It is way way way way higher than I expected, but I think now, when I cooled down a bit, that it was intended to be aspirational (say, the highest recent sale is 600K - for a massively extended immaculate house, and they suggested to market for offers over 650K). They kept on mentioning that "this needs work to fetch you the best offer" and "that needs some TLC before the viewings", so I thought to ask for some collective wisdom on here.
All recent local sold prices seem to be just insane (at least to me), as they all are just from the recent stamp duty holiday. I honestly don't know how someone in my exact position ~10 years ago is supposed to step on the property ladder now.

@tickingthebox73

Are you sure you have this right?

So when the order was made you had £300k house, £60k equity and owed him about 20% of equity = £12k

Now, £600k house, £480 equity (??) and he will therefore get £96k?

Why on earth don't you remortgage the house? So you have less equity?

If you are right and it goes on the amount of equity you could technically remortgage to 90% so equity of £60k again? (I realise you may need help to do this but please see a mortgage broker as many things are possible.)

Are you SURE its not fixed on the proportions at the time, so £12k then is £24 k now due to house price increases, this would make much more sense.

If it was fixed on proportions at the time, the order would have given him a fixed amount, not a percentage of the equity. When the sale of the marital home is delayed, it is normal for the party being forced to wait to be given a proportion of the equity. He is as entitled as the OP to benefit from the increase in value. Your final sentence would only work if he had been given a fixed proportion of the house. As he has 20%, that means he would have got £60k (i.e. all the equity) 7 years ago and would now be entitled to £120k.

If the OP increased the mortgage in an attempt to reduce the amount she had to pay her ex, he should find it easy to get the courts to order her to pay the full £96k.

I note that one of the OP's posts says she has reduced the mortgage. If that is the case, he may not be entitled to 20% of that, he may only be entitled to 20% of what the equity would be if the mortgage had remained the same. She should check with a lawyer.

@Iliveinahovel

I'd also contact a couple of estate agents NOT on the list and quietly get a 'starting' valuation' if you haven't done so already. At least it'll give you a jumping off point. Then you can ask those agents (since they won't be asked to do the actual valuations) how to 'reduce' the value. Well, time for a drip feed! I already did that (got a valuation from an agent, however, it was one from the list). It is way way way way higher than I expected, but I think now, when I cooled down a bit, that it was intended to be aspirational (say, the highest recent sale is 600K - for a massively extended immaculate house, and they suggested to market for offers over 650K). They kept on mentioning that "this needs work to fetch you the best offer" and "that needs some TLC before the viewings", so I thought to ask for some collective wisdom on here. All recent local sold prices seem to be just insane (at least to me), as they all are just from the recent stamp duty holiday. I honestly don't know how someone in my exact position ~10 years ago is supposed to step on the property ladder now.

Get another valuation and be clear what the valuation is for. You may have to pay for it since you aren't intending to sell, but you should get a more realistic figure that way.

Can you not just get the valuation based on the date he left, or the date of the legal order? If he hasn’t paid any money since, either for the house or the children, he can’t expect a current days valuation

Well, there is a natural variation of around £100K to £150K when it comes to sold prices for the houses on my very street - and they are all similar, it is quite a standard two up - two down terrace. Apart from the condition they're in - last renovated in the 80s, with artex on the ceiling and avocado-coloured bathrooms, vs an immaculate house with all the usual pre-sale improvements.

Swap door numbers with someone owning an avocado bathroom!
I would have random buckets of water in places, maybe take a couple of doors off cupboards in the kitchen so it looks like it needs replacing. Maybe put black paint in a spray bottle and spray a bathroom wall to look like black mould. And a good old sofa in the overgrown garden

@prh47bridge has a point. If you e been overpaying the mortgage, should that not be taken into account? Please seek legal advice.

I note that one of the OP's posts says she has reduced the mortgage. If that is the case, he may not be entitled to 20% of that, he may only be entitled to 20% of what the equity would be if the mortgage had remained the same. She should check with a lawyer.
Unfortunately, it is linked to the actual mortgage balance. Formally it works in a way that he charges me notional "occupation rent" on his share and I forfeit in return any claim against him to contribute to my mortgage or other costs. So from the legal perspective he does contribute towards the mortgage reduction, I guess, it is just remitted by me directly to the bank instead of me paying him rent and him paying me back the mortgage share.

[quote Soontobe60]@prh47bridge has a point. If you e been overpaying the mortgage, should that not be taken into account? Please seek legal advice.[/quote]
No, no, not overpaying - just reducing the principal in the usual way through scheduled payments.

How do you get on with your neighbor? Would they mind if you started a dispute

Get another valuation and be clear what the valuation is for. You may have to pay for it since you aren't intending to sell, but you should get a more realistic figure that way.
Yes, this seems to be the most rational way forward.

@Pat123dev

How do you get on with your neighbor? Would they mind if you started a dispute

Neighbours would be one of the biggest losses if I move anywhere. They are all quite eccentric in their own ways, but we get on exceptionally well.

Surely it’s 20% of the price at the time of the agreement - not afterwards? You made an agreement to give that amount based on the value then. I’d get legal advice.

@zeg3885

Surely it’s 20% of the price at the time of the agreement - not afterwards? You made an agreement to give that amount based on the value then. I’d get legal advice.

Just to repeat, this is a divorce settlement. If it was based on the price at the time of agreement, the OP's ex would almost certainly have been awarded a fixed amount. He has instead got a percentage of the equity and is as entitled as the OP to benefit from any increase in the value of the property.

Despite not paying towards the mortgage? I find this so difficult to swallow.
Sell it to a friend for dirt cheap and buy it back at a later date

@zeg3885

Despite not paying towards the mortgage? I find this so difficult to swallow. Sell it to a friend for dirt cheap and buy it back at a later date

Well, I think a sale to a friend is exactly something that will be hard to defend in the court. Technically it works like that, I think (as was explained to me):

1. He got a 20% interest in the property which could be construed as either legal (stronger) or beneficial (weaker) interest

1. He is entitled to receive rent for the above in any case as he is effectively excluded from enjoying his property rights by me living in my house.

1. The rent was accepted as being in excess of his hypothetical mortgage payments, in case if he's added as a tenant in common and we remortgage separately in line with our new shares (given that I would have had to pay significant penalties for the early repayment too, this was a complete non-starter). This is probably fair.

1. We agree that instead he accrues beneficial interest, I hold his share in trust until 31.12.2022 or until earlier qualifying event (death, marriage, or other similar disasters), he charges me £1 in notional rent for all this time, but I accept that he's contributing "virtually" towards both interest and capital on the mortgage, insurance, any maintenance costs etc. etc. in % to his interest share.

@Iliveinahovel Went around all the estate agents in town on behalf of my daughter whose husband turned out to be gay, did not consummate the marriage and saw his boyfriend every weekend ( he was / is in the Navy ).
They gave their services freely as soon as I told them the situation even though I stressed that she wanted to hang on to the house.
My daughter thought it only fair to give him half the profit on the house, it was hers but he had helped to pay the mortgage, one estate agent even gave her two valuations, one to buy him out and one to sell.
So she bought him out with just £14,000 in the end.

Watching Nick Knowles Big House Clearout last night, they were just badly cluttered (borderline hoarders) and knocked £30k off the local average value because of it.

If it's been such a long time since the consent order was sealed, can you not go back to the court and ask for a variation on the order? Especially if he hasn't contributed to any of the upkeep of the home

Where I live we find the lowest priced shabby house/fixer upper nearby - close to derelict as possible and then have the local auctioneer/valuer price it likewise. As long as they can show a property in the vicinity at a on par price it’s acceptable…

I’d go back to a lawyer and ask about offering 20% of the value at the time, minus an estimate of child maintenance in the 7 years since (take a reasonable upper and lower bound for his income, pick the middle to start with as your offer) and offer that with the alternative being going back to court, highlighting marriage length, his total financial contribution including failure to pay maintenance and his non existent contact or parenting.

Doing this could devalue the houses in the local area if sold at the lower valuation price, a little selfish to do!!!

SHIT what a mess.
Looks like you will have to sell. What a total gold digging blood sucking git. Just sell, pay him off and buy something smaller, it's not worth the stress you must be under. Don't know him but I hope he gets a water infection a real bad one.

@JMKid

Doing this could devalue the houses in the local area if sold at the lower valuation price, a little selfish to do!!!

Yep, especially because your neighbours are going to be there for you to help you pay for your next house.