Would you expect the bank’s surveyor to be stricter than your own?

[Recaffe]

We are in the horrible limbo of having had the mortgage approved but we are waiting for our surveyor to go in.

I’m trying to reassure myself by the fact that surely the bank’s surveyor would have been looking for reasons to downvalue (we offered 12% over asking) and yet he agreed with our offer. So if he didn’t find anything major then surely our surveyor won’t?

Is my reasoning correct?!

Sadly not.
My daughters house was valued at exactly what she paid for it by both surveyors. However, her own surveyor pointed out that the roof needed replacing and a damp specialist was needed as there were signs of damp. Plus several things didn’t meet building regulations 🥴

Definitely not. Some of them are just drive by valuations. They literally just check to see if there’s a house there. Depending on your deposit/mortgage, they are literally just looking to see if they could sell it for the value of the loan. They don’t look very closely and definitely not as closely as a proper surveyor.

The bank’s surveyor did an in-person valuation…

Nevertheless, they weren’t looking for problems they were just checking the bank would be able to get their money back if the property ended up being repossessed

Exactly what Twiglet said. All they need to know is if you don't pay the mortgage they won't be out of pocket. They aren't looking for damp or a bad roof.

We've had a survey on our house recently from our buyers bank. He said his job was basically literally to check the house is where it was, is the size it should be and isn't about to fall down, if that helps.

A second stage survey will be more intense.

Your own surveyor works for you and will be looking for things that will be problematic to you. The bank's surveyor (despite being paid for by you) is looking to see if the house is worth the money they are lending so that if you default, the bank can get their money back.

Your lenders surveyor is there to protect their investment, which is the loan. Not the entire value of the property because you are contributing a deposit or whatever other equity you brought from another sale.
( Lender wants to know "If recaffe defaults payments, and we repossess to sell, will we get back the loan amount". )

Your surveyor is there to protect your investment, which is your deposit plus your loan; and confirm that the property value matches that sum and you're not facing any major construction faults/repairs.

Hmm! I am confused in that case.

Surely if there was serious stuff such as damp, subsidence, movement, dodgy roof - then the bank’s surveyor would flag this as it reduces the value of the house? 🤔

Say you get a mortgage for 80% of the value of the property. All they care is that if it had to be sold quickly they could get that 80% back

Mortgage valuations don't seem to take into account the condition of the house. No idea why, as you'd think it would matter for the valuation.

The home buyers report, on the other hand, will flag up anything that might conceivably a problem.

Our buyers have had both a mortgage survey and a home buyers survey on our property. Valuer for the bank spent about 10 or 15 mins in our house whereas the HB valuer spent a good hour here. He looked and checked that everything worked, opened all windows, went in the loft and garage, was so much more thorough in his survey.

HB report came back fine (as far as we are aware, had no further come back from our buyers in regards to this) whereas the mortgage survey came back at £22k under the offer made.

OP a lot of bank valuers don’t even look around the house. they are checking the house exists, isn’t just a hole in the ground etc.

Quite a few people I know have had the opposite problem in that they’ve tried to raise remortgage funds from renovated properties but the bank haven’t considered the beautiful new kitchen and bathroom theyve put in or the lovely new windows or roof.
The bank have said “a property of this size in this are is worth X” - they don’t say ooooh you’ve got a 30k kitchen so I’ll knock the value up.

they might have pointed out something obvious like sinking foundations or a partially collapsed roof! But they wouldn’t pick up on fairly minor (in the grand scheme) repairs such as dated plumbing or damp or inefficient windows.

Most houses come back with some recommendations on the homebuyers report - unless it’s a serious structural issue then it fair game considering how old most properties in this country are

They might have details from the EA and know it’s a doer upper. That alters valuations as the bank might look a bit more closely at what could be wrong. Generally though, they value something based on the loan they might need to recover.

Your own surveyor looks for any issues relating to the property and it’s far more detailed. The bank/building society valuation is merely that.

it’s just a valuation on the loan that they can recover if you are unable to pay the mortgage and they need to repossess the property.

In the case of complicated properties which are seriously old with obvious issues that will have to be immediately rectified they will naturally look more closely into the value and your affordability of rectifying those issues, but in fairly straightforward properties it’s more of a cursory check and evaluation of similar properties to base the valuation against.

All about resale in the unfortunate circumstance of you not being able to service the mortgage and them repossessing and needing an easy sale. So cladding, invasive Japanese knotweed near the property, steel frame corrosion etc things that make it harder for that resale and would seriously downgrade the future value.

Other things your surveyor points out is merely down to you to rectify or negotiate price.

We had a bank/mortgage valuation survey on our house this week and he was in and out in under 5 mins. Proper surveyor took over an hour (maybe nearer two) and was very thorough and looked at everything in detail, the surveyor we are using on our onward purchase even puts up a drone for a good roof survey!

They're looking at it from different perspectives. The bank's surveyor is checking that the property exists, meets their lending criteria (eg very, very basic habitability) and that the price you're proposing paying for it is in line with its value, so they don't lose money if they ever have to repossess it from you. Your own survey is telling you more about its condition, and what it's likely to need doing to it, so you can make informed decisions about the purchase.

The mortgage survey literally Will. Not. Care. about things need doing, (so long as they aren't utterly catastrophic structural stuff), providing the price lines up for a property in that condition. You may or may not care about things that need doing, so your survey will give you the information to decide for yourself.

The building societies, years ago, used to employ Valuers. They were surveyors but their prime job was Valuer. That description should be used in this day and age! No misunderstanding then.