[WULLIE]

would any of you guys happen to be a mortgage underwriter??
preferably with knowledge of northern rocks policies.

im 3 days away from moving into my 1st purchase and the sh!t has hit the fan.

theres an old (capped off) mine ventilation shaft in the rear garden which has caused some serious problems. ive had a indepth report done but it was quite vauge and didnt fully detail all that had been done to cap off the vent. due to this my surveyor had no other option but to write an adverse comment on the future marketability of the house to the lenders.

would any of you know if this is going to be a definate NO GO from the lenders??


i nknow they said buying a house is stressing but this has got me really in a sh!t state

 

[Razor]

Most lenders will just put a retainer on the mortgage, for example:

If a property was 200K, someone wanted a mortgage for 150K and the surveyor noticed that the house had subsidence or whatever then they would still lend the money but put a retainer of it for say around 10K. So basically they would just lend the borrower 140K and it would be upto the borrower to find the other 10k to pay for the shortfall (normally thats when negotiations start taking place with the vendor).

Personally, I've been through this about 3 times with different properties and in all cases a retainer has been offered to the borrower (and me on two occasions). I've/borrower have never been refused a mortgage though based on problems with the property.

regards,

Mark

 

[rjbookes]

i had the same problem numerous amount of times, with surveyors reports and buying properties, including northern rock to a certain extent. Unfortunately the surveyors are an independent body who have guild lines (sometimes rather narrow!), even trying a different surveyor may not bring any different results (obviously not an option for you). All i can suggest is to speak to northern rock if you all ready haven't. A good "local" solicitors, knowing local rules/laws/guidelines has been a god sent for my situations. Also if you have a mortgage adviser then normally this is a good way to influence the lenders decision and to support your claim. Again this has been a god sent to me. If you was in brum i can recommend some people to you, but in Scotland i doubt if its any good cos the laws of buying/selling are different down here to up there.

good luck
russ

 

[WULLIE]

cheers guys.

if only their solicitor had given ours the coal authority report sooner we could have sorted the problem a bit easier. he posted it in on the day of the sale conclusion he also said that when he'd seen the indepth report that it looked positive and very good for us getting with no probs. but thats not been the case.

i am soooo gutted just now waiting to see how its going to pan out.

 

[rjbookes]

you still gonna move in 3 days regardless or is it an option to hold out for a bit to hopefully sort it??

 

[WULLIE]

we cant move unless we get the funds through in time as the sellers are sopposed to be moving on the same day but need our money to go ahead.

if only they'd told us at the start we could have dodged it if it was going to cause hassle and possible selling on problems but we now have a few grands worth of stuff waiting to go in and also furniture all getting delivered on monday.

so really were not in a position to tell them to ram it, unfortunately as much asi would like to now

 

[rjbookes]

really feel for you mate! i know how you feel......do you have a mortgage adviser that can help you??

 

[WULLIE]

aye, he's been really good with all the goings on. he's kept pushing the various companies but he pretty much said its all down to the underwriters now.

he let the surveyor know that we were dead set on getting it. the surveyor even said he didnt want to word the report badly but he had no choice really as the coal report wasnt very good so had to do what was needed. he also knows some of the guys at northern rock but as for the underwriters he said it all depends on how the individual feels sometimes they are ok and other times they arent.

 

[rjbookes]

reason i ask was my adviser had links to the underwriters for the mortgage company, and he was able to deal with them directly. once again good luck

russ

 

[WULLIE]

cheers russ.

i think i'll need more than luck on this one though

 

[Simon7extreme]

WULLIE

I want to make sure I understand your predicament. You have exchanged contracts on the purchase of a house which is due to complete on Friday. At some point since exchanging contracts your mortgage offer has been withdrawn? Or did you exchange without the formal mortgage offer.

Either way, as a first time buyer your professional advisers should be looking after you. If you exchanged without a mortgage offer, who suggested you did that? Your solicitor should have advised you against doing that. If the offer has been withdrawn, what is your solicitor doing about it.

The reason I ask these questions is that if the worst comes to the worst, it will end up costing somebody money and you need to ensure your back is covered and that somebody else carries the can.

As for trying to influence the underwriters, I doubt you will get very far. What the underwriter will do is to assess is what his bosses would think if he let it through and it all went pear shaped. If he has enough evidence to support his arguement that it was an acceptable risk, then he will let it through.

Note that I say acceptable risk. That should give you hope as its their job to take risks. They just have to be calculated and justifiable.

Good luck. I hope it all works out.

 

[WULLIE]

simon,

the people selling it are known to my girlfriends dad.

we went to view the house (we were never told anything about the vent by them) and everything was looking good. i got a survey done and then got a mortgage sorted. my solicitor asked me the name of their solicitor so he could get all the land searches/coal reports from him. three weeks later on the morning of my solicitor finalising the sale he opened his mail and there was a coal report with the ''gruesome'' find reported in it. i cannot understand why it took 3 weeks for their solicitor to send this through or why we were never told about it when viewing the house.


as everything was going fine and we knew we'd be accepted (financially) for the mortgage we went out and bought all the interior appliances,bed,electricals.... so we now have 2 houses (parents) full of stuff that could be of no use to us. i just wish we were told the full story from the start

 

[Simon7extreme]

WULLIE

I have just spotted that you are in Scotland andI am not sure whether the system is the same there as it is in England. It does sound like you don't have a commitment to complete the purchase if it all goes wrong which is one good thing. And while having all the stuff is a pain, I am sure you will be able to use it elsewhere.

However, it might not come to that. It might all go through. Having said that, I would give very serious consideration as to whether to proceed. Evene if the underwriters say yes, when you come to sell it yourself your buyers underwriters might say no. It sounds to me like one you really should consider walking away from.

The fact that the other party took so long to send over the papers also makes one think. Were they hoping to get away with it?

Not being local makes it difficult to know enough to make a decision, but on what you have posted, I think I would walk away unless there was a very good reason not to. And that reason should be about why the house would sell with no problems in the future. Don't make a decision based oln what you have already bought but on what it might cost you in the future

Good luck.

 

[WULLIE]

weve been shafted by the surveyor.

they had the indepth report and were to send their opinion to northern rock. this would either tell them its good or bad.

the report stated no facts from that area of land except to say that the building was within 20m of the ''approx'' location of the entrance to the mine. it then said that the statistical chance of it happening were almost none but they couldnt rule out future land slippage.

there has been none reported in britian EVER. but the surveyor felt obliged to sent northern rock a report saying not to invest in the property as its not sound.


fukkin shitebags cannot believe they done that.
i will be on to them tomorrow to find out what facts they have drawn up their professional conclusion from.

 

[rjbookes]

thats bad new mate, sorry to hear it. hope you get the answers your looking for...seems hard to believe that you can get so close as only being 2 days away from completing and the plug is pulled, because of an issue that should have really been brought to light earlier.

On the other hand if it wasn't meant to happen then let it be...just think of the problems you might get when u come to sell it?!? its a buyers market at the moment so properties are of a handful, with some a good prices to. i know because of scotish laws its a dam sight quicker buying a house up there than down here.


russ

 

[InsBro]

Wullie

Did you have an Environmental survey?

Was the surveyors survey just a home Buyers report or a "full" survey?

Why did your solicitor rely on the third party solicitor for a copy of the report?

I have more questions yet

Jez

 

[WULLIE]

no they havent done the environmental survey. nobody has been near the house to assess anything.

the surveyor has basically sent a mortgage killing report based on these statements.

* the building lies within 20m of the approx location of the entrance.

*the chances of slippage are minimal (i.e. none EVER to date)

*although they cannot rule out it happening in the future.

the house next to and adjacent from the one were buying both seem to have the same shaft in their gardens aswell so really going on that fact theres no difinitive location.

thats was the interpretive report.

 

[InsBro]

no they havent done the environmental survey. nobody has been near the house to assess anything.

the surveyor has basically sent a mortgage killing report based on these statements.

* the building lies within 20m of the approx location of the entrance.

*the chances of slippage are minimal (i.e. none EVER to date)

*although they cannot rule out it happening in the future.

the house next to and adjacent from the one were buying both seem to have the same shaft in their gardens aswell so really going on that fact theres no difinitive location.
thats was the interpretive report.

Get an Environmental survey done the best £60-80 you will ever spend, In England it is almost neglegent if a solicitor doesn't insist you have this done (not reccomend). These surveys go in to more depth (no pun intended) than the local searches.

BTW all the local search info is available on the Internet now to the solicitors, I had all my search info and surveys completed in 3 weeks for my recent purchase.

Jez