House v close to proposed HS2 line

[nomorespaghetti]

Hi all. We've had an offer accepted on a house in South Manchester, had all the surveys and searches back, were pretty much ready to exchange. One of the searches flagged that the house is very very close to the proposed HS2 line (which would be underground, I don't think the house is near a station). Our solicitor informed the mortgage company. Now, even though we already had our offer, the bank want to do an in-person valuation on the house. A valuation had already been done, but it was a remote/desktop one (they valued it as what we were paying).

The loan-to-value is 60%. I'm just a bit confused as to what the bank would achieve by doing the in-person valuation? Are the hoping to ascertain whether they'd get their money back if the house was subject to compulsory purchase (which I don't think it will be)? Or something else?

FWIW, I think the house is overpriced, and I'm quite keen to see what they value it at. We're not super in love with the house, but there's barely anything coming on the market here. If it didn't work out we wouldn't be heartbroken. We'd probably try to renegotiate if the valuation came back lower and it for e.g. affected the LTV band and therefore interest rate.

Thanks for any insights!

How close is it to the line? Geographically if it’s within half a mile you could potentially have issues with noise, pollution, or spoilt views. This could put future purchasers off and lead to loss of value. If it is over half a mile, it shouldn’t be a problem. It’s a bonus even if it’s not too far from a station for commuting.

It’s 112 metres! Track in tunnel.

It’s underground, and won’t even be built for several years, if at all. I hope it’s a formality, rather than anything else.

Surely it can’t be subject to compulsory purchase if HS2 is underneath the ground, unless it’s literally bang on the line perhaps?

Thanks vino. Yes I don’t see how it would be subject to a compulsory purchase. Hopefully a formality like you say.

Good luck with it, hope it’s resolved very quickly!

Maybe to make sure the construction if the house it strong enough to withstand the tunnel construction and the vibration of high speed trains tearing along it?

I've got a feeling it won't be going ahead but I could be wrong.

Could be, seeline. It’s funny you say that userxx, as my first thought when I saw the search result was ‘oh, well that’s not gonna happen is it!’ But I don’t really know what I’m basing that on 😂

@userxx its definitely going ahead on that section, enabling works have commenced and main works are due to start before Christmas.

The northern section above crew and Leeds has been cancelled.

I'm clearly wrong then 😞. I saw something whilst walking in the Bolllin about scheduled works but that was ages ago.

Hi @nomorespaghetti did you get it sorted? Hope the process has gone ok for you!

Thanks for asking@vinoandbrie

Unfortunately not sorted yet. Mortgage valuation hasn’t yet been done. It’s extremely frustrating, we’ve been calling almost every day to hurry them along (sometimes waiting on hold for hours, record so far has been 1hr 40min on hold!!!) but nothing even booked in yet! The vendor is getting pissed off, and so are we!

Ugh, everything always seems to take so long in terms of house buying. Sorry that it’s causing such a headache and I really hope it will be resolved as fast as possible. What a palaver!

I'd not go any further with this one.

Why buy a house with (potential) resale problems when you don't need to?

@Mosaic123 well, we’re in south Manchester (didsbury, if you know it, which is a pretty nice area) and half the houses around here will be very close to hs2. There’s naff all else on the market! I can’t see it affecting property prices that much, unless it’s some rumbling underground juggernaut that makes the houses wobble every 30 minutes!

Hi @nomorespaghetti

Sending you a pm

Did you get sorted in the end @nomorespaghetti?

I really hope you’re now in your new property and enjoying it!

We did thank you @vinoandbrie! The bank finally got around to doing their physical valuation, and there was no change in the value. We've been in 3 weeks now are really loving the extra space and the area :-)

Yayyyyy! Great news, really glad you’re in!

I love Didsbury, loads going on.

A fabulous location I’m very jealous