Mortgage - is there any hope?

[Pickle131]

I'm very anxious about a mortgage application that's just gone in and wonder if anyone has any experience or success stories of getting a mortgage after being turned down on the basis of the property please?
We've just been turned down for a mortgage with The Abbey because their surveyor thought the property we want to buy was of "a non standard construction" (a first floor extension is wood framed and tile hung, the bottom is brick) and may have limited appeal to buyers in the future. Given that our own surveyor spoke very well of the house and we were actually in a bidding war over it, this seems really odd. I thought the bank survey was just to make sure the bank would get their money back in the event we couldn't keep up repayments?
It's a house with loads of potential, no major problems from our full survey, in a very desirable location, and we're putting down 65%.
I've not done this before - do banks take different views or do they tend to all agree on this sort of thing? Abbey turned down our appeal so we are now going with a mortgage provider that uses a different surveyor. Abbey used a company called ESurv. Please help!!

You have to wait and see, I would guess it would be fine

Good luck

How irritating

I think this is where a broker could be useful: an experienced broker knows the foibles of mortgage companies, and should save you money by knowing who is just not worth applying to in your particular circumstances.

Pickle, the valuation survey is to make sure the bank will get their money back: your particular surveyor is basically saying he thinks they might not, because the house could be hard to re-sell. You need to find another surveyor who isn't so fussy about non-standard construction... And a good broker is more likely to know that than you are, probably.

Good luck!

That is very bad luck particularly as you are only borrowing 65%. Weird decision and fact you 've been turned down may be used against you in applying for other lenders.

We got turned down by one mortgage company because of the area (shocked because it is a really desirable area to live in) but have had an offer from the next one we tried. We did have a mortgage broker doing the work for us to find a suitable company.

Also recommend using a broker as they do seem to have extra knowledge about the banks. Also, esurv is one of the major panels of surveyors - colleys is the other one - so it might be hard to find a surveyor not on one of those... But it could be different from surveyor to surveyor - hopefully!
Good luck

Thanks for the advice all. Our broker has picked the new lender because they dont use esurv - Misty, I didnt realise how well used they were :-/ Flow - you're right, that makes sense that he doesn't think they'd get their money back. What's so silly is that I bet they would, even if the house fell flat, developers would love it!
Beano, I am encouraged by your experience, it gives me a teeny bit of hope. Well that's now two peiple I know who were turned down by one provider, so I shall hope for the best. Any more stories of mortgage providers coming through would be most welcome!