What if I disagree with the valuation of the prospective buyer’s survey?

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Answer

The Lender will use a Valuer who is registered with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) who will ignore the headline marketing price and will seek to establish the Market Value of the property based upon comparable evidence and his/her experience in the local market.  Market Value is defined as:

The estimated amount for which an asset or liability should exchange on the valuation date between a willing buyer and a willing seller in an arm’s length transaction, after proper marketing and where the parties had each acted knowledgeably, prudently and without compulsion.

In arriving at this opinion, which it must be stressed is an opinion rather than a matter of fact, the Valuer will discount factors such as special purchasers and the like (e.g. mother lives next door so I'll pay any price to live in this property) and will also disregard the Estate Agent's marketing valuation as that could have been arrived at in an unregulated manner, e.g. the particular agent wants exposure in this location.

Once the Valuer has arrived at their opinion this is likely to be fixed and challenging them is difficult due to the fact that they will have considered sufficiently the evidence available to them.  If however you have sufficient evidence to refute their opinion, then you may be able to submit this to the lender for consideration and potentially further comment.

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Wayne Norcliffe

Castle Surveyors

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