Can't get a house survey done so can't get mortgage

[kedooo]

This is so frustrating, so me and my OH are meant to be buying a house from a relative of his who is having the house repossessed end of June. We can get the mortgage but can't get a surveyor to the house during the lockdown, none of the surveying companies can do a desktop survey because they need another comparison house to have been sold within half a mile and within the last 3 months. The house is in a busy area so I'm surprised they can't get this. So frustrating as we'll miss out on getting the house and I'm pregnant, we wanted to have a house sorted before the baby is born. Unless the lockdown is lifted soon to allow house surveys to take place we will have to find another house and move with a small baby :(

We are in a similar situation except it's our buyers who can't get their survey done. We are good to go and the people we're buying from are good to go. It's so frustrating!

Keep ringing round as surveys are taking place, we have just had one.

How much of a deposit do you have? We had a desktop valuation done for our mortgage but think that’s more likely with a LTV of less than 75%.

It's the mortgage lender than instructs a surveyor, she can't "ring around"

We’re in the same situation. Really frustrating, I agree! We have a surveyor who’ll happily carry out the building survey but the lender won’t instruct valuation surveys right now, even on empty properties (as ours is), so we’re stuck - and no point doing the building survey without a mortgage....

Thanks for the replies, we do have a large deposit to put down, 35% so it's not the financial side of things that are a problem. Could I not call and see which surveying companies are working and which banks they're working with? I know of a local company working but NatWest who we've applied for the mortgage with will only use Legal&General to do their surveys and they won't do any till lockdown is lifted

Me and my OH are both first time buyers and this will be our first baby. All this is new to us and stressful enough anyway without the lockdown adding more complications:(

Feel for you, we're in the same situation.

Surveys are happening. My dad's just had one done. You can't be in the house though

I know some smaller local companies are working but the banks we've applied for mortgages with won't use them, only their own surveying companies

Mortgage lender doesn’t instruct the surveyor, so yes she can ring around.

Valuations and surveys are different things. Our mortgage doesn’t require a survey but we had one done for our own benefit.

I think that's the problem, all the lenders we've gone to require a survey and if we open up more applications it will affect our credit score and we could just have the same issue that the surveying company they use won't do any surveys during lockdown

But yes, if you don’t have a mortgage then not much point in paying for a survey yet.

Is it worth asking a broker? They have access to whole of market and may know which mortgage providers are carrying out desktop valuations?

We didn’t use a broker with our first mortgage application but we opted to this time and it did seem to smooth the process.

We are using a broker, he has said he's tried everything and is stuck until the lockdown restrictions are lifted for surveyors. That's why I thought was there anything we could do to take things into our own hands but looks like we may just have to wait, possibly lose the house and look for a new one when viewings are allowed to take place

I’m surprised you are having such difficulty with a 65% LTV. Our vendor has also managed to get a desktop valuation done, so they are happening.

I hope you do manage to secure the house you want.

NatWest has announced a similar arrangement. It is working on a range of alternative valuation solutions while the social distancing measures are in place.

It said this would mainly involve the expansion of its desktop valuation process.

Applications that need a physical valuation will be put on hold from today.

NatWest said all applications relating to the following property or case type will not progress beyond valuation at the moment, because of the current market challenges;

Buy-to-let, new build, flats, any property in Northern Ireland and any property valued over £3m,
Properties valued between £50,000 and £999,999 over 80 per cent loan to value (LTV),
between £1,000,000 and £1,499,999 over 65 per cent LTV,
between £1,500,000 and £1,999,999 over 55 per cent LTV,
and properties between £2,000,000 and £2,999,999 over 50 per cent LTV.

Just found this online - is any of it relevant?

Thanks! No none of those apply, our broker said the reason is because they need to find a similar house sold within half a mile in the last 3 months in order to do a desktop survey which they don't have, it seems crazy, we're happy to have just a valuation as my OH's family member has lived in the house for 40 years so we know there's no major problems with it