The Council of Mortgage Lenders, the representative group for Mortgage Lenders, has warned the Government that is faces a tough battle if it is to forge ahead with its plans to prevent lenders from commissioning their own valuations on potential mortgage deals and property purchase.
The new Home Seller Packs, details of which have been covered on numerous occasions on this site, propose that when sellers put their property on the market, they will be obliged to include an independent valuation to distribute to potential purchasers and indeed any new mortgage company.
Our view
Whilst the stance is admirable and would seem logical to have the seller obtain a report before going to market, we do not believe that any lender would be foolish enough to lend thousands of pounds on a property that they were not happy with via their own panelled assessor. Likewise, we do not believe that any property conveyancing solicitor will allow a potential purchaser to buy a property without having their own valuation.
In short, a common standards for approved property surveyors would need to be agreed by all lenders, that each deemed acceptable and this may then happen. The only problem we see is when a property has a surveyor's report that is out of date. Would you buy a property that had a survey done 12 months ago? The whole process would need to start again raising the costs even further.
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