Property valuation: your comments

You have been telling us your experiences of receiving an unexpectedly low property valuation when getting a survey to buy, sell or remortgage a property.

Here are some of your views:

My house was valued at 25% less than I paid for it by the Nationwide Building Society appointed surveyor. I've recently found out that the greater the proportion of the value that you borrow, the greater the interest rate they charge. Lower value = higher proportion borrowed = higher interest rate. I can see why they give ridiculously low valuations.
Claire, Okehampton, England

The NAEA is assuming prices in current deals are all that matter in assessing value. They are ignoring other "risk" factors in the current market. Who is to say, for example, that the level of finance available now will be sustained in September or October, or that repossessions may rise steeply? Both of these and other factors affect the number of buyers and stock in the market... demand and supply... which is the substance behind the price achieved in a deal. Valuers are right to be cautious until all the factors affecting the market are stable and as a buyer myself I was pleased to hear it.
Mark Cheverton, Rochester

This appears to be a widespread practice by the mortgage lenders and their valuers. It has not happened only to us, but to a number of people we know that wanted to either sell or remortgage their homes. It's the valuers' duty to be honest and ethical in their professional conduct. As we all know that's what the banks lack!
S Twana, Bletchley

Surveyors have not much edge over punters on valuation, now actual sale prices are freely available. I wanted my home (bought 20 years ago) re-valued because my mortgage interest is lower if the loan is less than 50% of most recent valuation. A wasted valuation fee, because the valuation was obviously too low, but the surveyor wouldn't budge. Not long after (with house prices past their peak), the house next door sold for 30% more than his valuation. The surveyor almost appeared to believe that recent house price rises were excessive, and as a member of the surveying priesthood, it was his duty to hold prices back.
Philip, Exeter, UK

My home was valued as part of my remortgaging, it was undervalued by approx 2% which lost my new mortgage and left me no choice but to take a more expensive mortgage.
Raymond Elliott, Bromley, UK

I wholly agree with the report made above. I work for a major high street lender as a Mortgage Adviser and regularly see valuation reports returned from the panel of surveyors we use that are 10% below the suggested sale price quoted by estate agents. In some cases I've seen reports coming back up to 60% off the guide price. The customer always has the option to contest the valuation report and is asked to send in three comparable properties in terms of construction, type, size and condition from their immediate area. However, I've never had a report overturned even when the customer has sent in four comparables from the same street matching the correct criteria for appeal. This is something that has been noted by fellow advisors over the last twelve months and the article above clearly has justification in it's findings.
Mortgageman, Norwich, England

All houses in this country are grossly over-valued. When are the British public going to wake up and realise this? We have the most expensive housing in the world and we're going the same way as Japan 25 years ago, (small island, big population) that prices have gone so high that they will fall and still be lower 25 years from now. Super high property values cause us to need high wages to afford the debt to pay for one, which causes us to be un-competitive in the manufacture of items in the globalised world.
Richard, Barry

We are in the process of buying our dream bungalow. Dropped from £290,000 to £249,000 to reduce the Tax band on it and get a quick sale. The valuer valued it at only £240,000. He must be blind. It won't affect us as we have a 40% deposit, but I could not believe how anyone could value this nearly new show home so low. Now I know why!
Joe Folkett, Leicester

I have lost £1K of savings due to the above situation. Miller Homes were selling me a property at £170K and it was valued by them at that. Nationwide, my lender had given me an initial offer of loan and then requested a second survey. This was valued at £150K. Nationwide then would only offer the £150K with expectation that I would find the rest. What makes matters worse is that this was a shared equity deal with Miller Homes so the risk element if the property value was to drop in the future would have been on Miller Homes and myself.

At first I though this was Miller Homes over pricing the homes however everyone else in the new build has purchased and paid the same price of £170K. I have lost the property, lost my reservation fee and also survey costs, not great in the current climate.
Ronald Leitch, Paisley, Scotland

We went to buy our flat in May. It was fixed price subject to survey as it had been on before the Home Reports, the surveyor valued the property at £10K less than the offer we placed. They surveyor was happy to increase his valuation by £5K and luckily the seller wanted rid so we got the apartment for £5K less than we would have. Mortgage lenders have specific survey companies and if you don't use one that they have on their books, you need to fork out for another survey.
Leigh-Ann, Aberdeen

We were considering re-mortgaging in November last year. On the back of this we were required to have another valuation on our property. The 'independent' valuer came in with a very low figure only a small percentage above what we paid for our property 3 years ago. This forced us to bring in the local valuing teams from the area. We subsequently sold our flat in January for £200K above the valuation.
Nick, London

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