Mortgage refused on property, next steps?

[Abi Cott]

Well after much twoing and froing of survey data that my mortgage advisor sent off without my permission NatWest have refused a mortgage on the property I want.

I'm still want the building so I'm pondering having a go with a different mortgage provider.

I'm not the easiest person to mortgage as I'm largely paid commission, and the building is damp and the rear wall of the terrace bows to 50mm at its greatest point. Which appears to be giving the mortgage company the collywobbles.

Any advice?

 

[mims&pip]

No recent experience as we've been mortgage-free for the last nine years and the only time we had a retention on a mortgage we ended up scraping together the cash to buy it outright :wink:

My only advice therefore would be to go to a broker that covers the whole market and assess your options from there, assuming you've not already done so? Has the surveyor placed a value on the property, was it miles away from the agreed purchase price and did the mortgage provider refuse to lend altogether?

Hope you get it resolved and your purchase can go ahead!

Mims x

 

[plasticpigeon]

I agree, there is no harm in using a broker. A number of people I know have had success with London and Country, I think they only take a fee if you take the mortgage, or they may even take the comission from the lender so worth a try, but of course they are just one of many companies offering the same service.

 

[Abi Cott]

No recent experience as we've been mortgage-free for the last nine years and the only time we had a retention on a mortgage we ended up scraping together the cash to buy it outright :wink:

My only advice therefore would be to go to a broker that covers the whole market and assess your options from there, assuming you've not already done so? Has the surveyor placed a value on the property, was it miles away from the agreed purchase price and did the mortgage provider refuse to lend altogether?

Hope you get it resolved and your purchase can go ahead!

Mims x

The mortgage company refused the mortgage altogether, apparently that is their policy, they simply don't do retentions, you either get a yes or a no.

I have now approached a second mortgage broker.

What particularly narked me off about my current one is that he sent off the Damp and Timber Survey without my permission. It was created by his recommended specialists who diagnosed rising damp and recommended an injected DPC. I told him not to send it because I was unhappy with it and was investigating alternate survey providers but he sent it anyway.

I'm really just looking for reassurance that I'm not nuts for trying to buy a property that might be difficult to sell at some point in the future. Plus reassurance that mortgages for damp, slightly bent listed buildings really does exist.

 

[Hobden]

Plus reassurance that mortgages for damp, slightly bent listed buildings really does exist.

It might depend on what percentage of the purchase price you are trying to borrow?

 

[Abi Cott]

Plus reassurance that mortgages for damp, slightly bent listed buildings really does exist.

It might depend on what percentage of the purchase price you are trying to borrow?

I'm looking to borrow 75% of the agreed price which is 64k. Its not exactly a big mortgage. :roll:

 

[Hobden]

I'm looking to borrow 75% of the agreed price which is 64k. Its not exactly a big mortgage. :roll:

The size of the mortgage is not entirely relevant. The building society (whatever) will look at the property and decide whether or not they could sell it for 48K tomorrow. And next year. And in ten year's time. If they can't they won't lend (in case you default).

There's also the problem that their staff probably know very little about houses so the slightest "unusual" thing sends them running for the hills. And it's probably built into their internal "rules for lending" too. There's plenty of "unrisky" business about, so they can afford to ignore anything else.

If you've been trying with the big boys, you might fare better with one of the small building societies that allow their staff more leeway in what they do. And train them appropriately hopefully! A good mortgage broker ought to be able to ferret out a loan for you. As to how you find said broker, then there you have me I'm afraid. We need CheckATrade for the professions!

 

[a twig]

I got one with Woolwich on an old wonky and slightly damp house - for 80% of a fair bit more, so you should be fine with a different broker...

 

[Abi Cott]

I'm giving Which? a try I'm not a member at the minute, but I have been in the past, and their consumer friendly attitude seems as good a reason to pick them as any. One of their first comments was that for an unusual building we should be trying some of the smaller more flexible lenders. So fingers crossed.

If I get turned down twice I will just have to write it off as a bad job, but I really like the property and its affordable which is quite important if I am going to manage to get my foot back on the property ladder. I'm feeling a lot less fed up today.

 

[TheRoost]

I'd echo a twig's comment, I can also recommend Woolwich(Barclays) for a mortgage for being very unfussy and quick to give a decision, their surveyor didn't pick up on historic movement or slight damp. They're almost doing lax lending again.

I've never understood the need for a broker, with sites like compare the market and money advice service, you can find the same deals as the brokers, and clearly yours had a dpc salesman mate, but lost his own commission!

Avoid HSBC though, they are super picky.

Don't loose heart you will get there in the end!

 

[Abi Cott]

Which? weren't much help either, so I'm having one last go. I've contacted the Ecology Building Society. They consider renovation projects to be 'green' as its a form of recycling. It does make the application slightly more complicated though as they want details of my renovation plans. Given my thoughts had previously mainly been 'buy it and fix sh@π' I've had to do a fair bit more research to come up with costings and satisfy their requirement that I will be raising the EPC rating of the building by at least one grade. It seems ridiculous that I have to jump through such hoops to buy what is basically a sound, if rather damp, terraced house.

I have my mortgage interview on Monday at 2, so fingers crossed.

I'm still determined to buy a listed+/conservation area house (it's criminal how much of the local heritage is being lost to us due to it being in the hands of slum landlords) but if I can't get this one I will probably wait until April to buy, so whilst I hope to join the club at some point I might just be a reader/researcher in the immediate future.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Good luck Abi. It's very stressful but with perseverance you'll get there in the end. We had a hell of a job getting mortgages ( because Chris is a contractor) - in the end we got one with Halifax who didn't probe into the problems of the house, thank god. Not sure that would happen now though.

 

[Abi Cott]

Stage one with the Ecology Building Society passed. I meet their affordability requirements just about, though will obviously need to provide proof of earnings, the property also meets their requirements though I will need a survey and provide quotes for the proposed schedule of works. I expect the latter to be quite tricky, getting a tradesman to provide a quote is hard enough, let alone when you don't own the building.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

What particularly narked me off about my current one is that he sent off the Damp and Timber Survey without my permission. It was created by his recommended specialists who diagnosed rising damp and recommended an injected DPC. I told him not to send it because I was unhappy with it and was investigating alternate survey providers but he sent it anyway.

Cheeky so and so ------that survey sounds typically unenlightened.

Dont give up yet xxxx

 

[Abi Cott]

Its a tricky one, there are some of the larger providers that will take my full earnings into account, they like me but don't like the house. The EBS like the project but are only willing to take half of my commission into account, so it might turn out that they like the house but don't like me :roll: