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Original poster

House valued at £0. Help!

49 replies

Compendiumoffluff · 10/10/2019 09:37

I'm a first time buyer and I'm at a loss with what to do as I really want this house. Made an offer in August which was accepted but home buyers survey picked up problems with a sunroom which is an add on temporary structure and asked for a damp and timber survey. The valuer came back with a value of £0 until these issues were investigated further.

I then paid for a structural engineer to come out who confirmed the sunroom needed either knocking down, underpinning or rebuilding but confirmed it made up 0.75% of the total property, was a temporary structure and could easily be resolved by any of the above options. Timber and damp survey came back with a 2.5k quote and knocking down of the sunroom will be about 2k tops.

The valuer still came back with a value of £0 but would value the house at asking price if invoices of the above work are provided. The problem is that the vendor cannot afford to do the work and I cannot do the work until exchange of contracts (which i cannot do without a mortgage).

I've gone back to the mortgage company who said they go on what the valuer says and the valuer says they are tied to rules set by the mortgage company. We are going around in circles and the only option i have now is to go with a different mortgage provider and pay for another valuation with a different valuer. This is still a gamble considering I have now paid £1.5k for these surveys which have gone nowhere and would have to pay another £300ish for another valuation with no guarantees they wouldnt come back with the same issues.

Also, would this invalidate my home buyers report done by the valuer if I chose not to go with them? This has been dragging on for 2 months and we are no further on in the process. I know the simplest option would be to walk away but there is nothing else on the market and I do love the house, plus I'm wasting money on rent and dont want to start this process again with another house. I really want to be in before Xmas but looking like it will all fall through over a bloody sunroom.

Has anyone ever been in this position before and are there any other options I have to resolve this? I'm so stressed out and have wasted money I cant afford to waste. I feel the valuer is being difficult too. Why can't they just value it at asking price minus the £5k work?

OP posts:
NoSquirrels · 10/10/2019 09:42

Walk away. If the vendor cannot raise £5K for essential repairs to enable them to sell the house, then I wouldn’t throw good money after bad.

NoSquirrels · 10/10/2019 09:44

Why can the vendor not get a loan- have you really pushed back at them on this?

MrsElijahMikaelson1 · 10/10/2019 09:45

Walk away and find somewhere else without these issues

Floralnomad · 10/10/2019 09:51

This is not your problem , it’s the vendors and they need to sort it , if they won’t then find another house to buy .

Countrylifeornot · 10/10/2019 09:54

I'd walk away. If they can't find a few thousand to secure the sale I imagine there will be more issues and corners cut.

Original poster
Compendiumoffluff · 10/10/2019 09:56

Apparently they are at some stage of repossession and cannot get a loan to do the work. To be honest, the estate agent takes ages to get back to me on anything which is delaying things even further and I don't know how much they are really pushing this. I'm starting to feel like the vendor doesnt really want to sell as I'm the one doing all the chasing and running around.

There isn't anything on the market (and hasn't been since this house came on) with the same size/location and within my budget so I'm really reluctant to walk away. Also, what if I end up in the same position in a different house which will cost more money in surveys etc.?

OP posts:
Aderyn19 · 10/10/2019 10:00

If it's being repossessed, can your solicitor contact the vendor's mortgage company and see if there is something which can be done.

NoSquirrels · 10/10/2019 10:01

If they’re being repossessed or are otherwise financially deeply in the shit then please just walk. It will end up being sold at auction at a knockdown price eventually.

You could find out from them if their mortgage company is repossessing - they would probably prefer a sale and might be able to work with you.

But really honestly truly- life is too short and even though it doesn’t seem like it right now, there will be other houses to buy.

zebrasdontwearbras · 10/10/2019 10:02

If it's a repossession, it will be a nightmare, if my DB's experience is anything to go by.

He walked away after months of wrangling - you should too.

OkayGo · 10/10/2019 10:07

Ah op I know it's hard and you've put a lot in to it already but if it's a repossession I'd definitely walk away now

Bellringer · 10/10/2019 10:15

Surely the land is worth something. Seems ridiculous, don't know how you get round it though.

OliveOwl · 10/10/2019 10:17

Walk away. This has gotn9ghtmare all over it.

Original poster
Compendiumoffluff · 10/10/2019 10:19

@Aderyn19, the estate agent spoke to the 3rd party (who I think are the repossession company) who said they would let me walk away.

Very naive question but what other issues am I looking at with a repossession? I've not even thought about that until now.

It's hard to walk away as my DC love the house too and anything compatible in size is at least 80k more expensive. I'm buying on my own and it's so hard not to have someone help make this decision. My head says walk, my heart says stick with it.

Is the second valuation a bad idea then? The survey only picked up minor issues on other stuff.

OP posts:
Original poster
Compendiumoffluff · 10/10/2019 10:24

That's what I was thinking @Bellringer. Surely it has a value if they are willing to value it at my offer price if the 5k work is done?

OP posts:
Bellringer · 10/10/2019 10:55

Estate agent at fault for marketing this and letting you spend on survey etc. I suppose vendors mortgage co are auctioning hoping for cash buyer. Don't think there's anything you can do. Sometimes lender will allow exchange and hold back money for repairs but you have to find the difference. Your vendors are obviously in a lot of difficulty so no leeway there.

Aderyn19 · 10/10/2019 10:56

The people living in the house don't want to sell - this is happening against their will so they won't be in a position to fix the house, they won't be trying to hurry this process along or make it as smooth as possible and might not just nicely move out once a sale is completed. They might trash the house before they go, or might need to be forcibly evicted.
You aren't dealing with motivated sellers but with a mortgage company who don't really care about this sale and will want to offload it at auction and not spend any money on it to make is saleable at a higher price. It's short sighted if them, but the people handling it have no personal stake in the outcome.

Bellringer · 10/10/2019 10:57

Spe aknto mortgage broker on no deal no fee basis? I think which reccomend some

TokyoSushi · 10/10/2019 11:00

I know it's not what you want to hear, but I would agree that you need to walk away from this one.

Having been through a horrific house move this year I wouldn't be at all surprised if further problems turned up along the way. Best to get out now before you invest any more time and money.

Floralnomad · 10/10/2019 11:00

If it’s a repo I’d definitely walk away , many years ago the house that backed onto ours was repossessed and when we woke up one morning the ‘owners’ had left and had even taken the patio with them

Bellringer · 10/10/2019 11:03

They may be motivated to sell for a better price no pay their debt. Rather than owe to mortgage co, who will auction to highest bidder for low price, cut their losses and still chase the outstanding debt.

AthollPlace · 10/10/2019 11:08

I bought a repossessed house. It’s risky because you only have 30 days to complete the sale and they have to accept any higher offer regardless of how far you’ve progressed, so the rug could be pulled from under you at the very last minute.

When I finally moved into my house it was trashed. The previous owners had graffitied all over the walls, everything was filthy and broken. But I’d been warned in advance and was happy with that because I was only paying 50% of the market value.

What I didn’t expect was that the previous owners would hang onto their ID which showed my address, and continue using it to fraudulently get debt, claim housing benefit, etc. I’ve had police and bailiffs at the door, final demand letters for loans worth tens of thousands, etc. But again that’s something I was willing to accept in order to save 50% on the market price of the house.

If you’re not getting a significant discount I would not buy a repossession.

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TheyWentToSeaInASieve · 10/10/2019 11:22

Any way you can get another mortgage company involved? Repossessed houses, along with probate sales or any general dumps that need renovating, can be a good investment -- if you can separate yourself from the sadness of someone's situation. I am speaking from experience having renovated 5 of these, while living there.

I have never heard of a £0 value house, it doesn't make sense. Everything has a value.

ThreeLittleDots · 10/10/2019 11:29

I'd be angry at the agent for letting you get so far down this road. It's priced so cheaply to attract a cash buyer and they've let you waste all that money on surveys. Walk away.

BookWitch · 10/10/2019 11:47

Our first house that we bought in the mid 1990s was a repo, the sale went through eventually but even now I can remember the stress and we should have walked away.
I persisted in the sale because I loved the house and there wasn't much more in our budget on the market and DD had just started nursery very nearby and it was well in the catchment of the primary school we wanted.
We should have walked away. Even though we did buy it and moved in, we were hounded by maintenance issues because the previous owners hadn't done any house maintenance for years, and we were constantly harrassed by debt collectors and bailiffs (I had to keep a copy of the solicitors letter by the front door to prove it was now our house and we had nothing to do with these people.
Also as they had been forced out and really didn't want to move, they stripped the house when they moved out - took every door handle, light bulbs, sink plugs, plus a couple of actual bedroom doors.

We only ended up living there two years before we moved on.

I'd walk away OP, seriously, there are other houses out there.