Hello all,
Our house valuation nightmare began a number of months ago on a property we were looking to purchase in Weybridge. We intially looked to port our mortgage through our current provider Natwest and used eSurv to provide a full structural survey as well as the valuation which they conducted for the bank. The survey eventually came back after two weeks with a mortgage valuation of 0 after much chasing and a complete lack of communication from eSurv or Natwest inspite of the cash being taken at the first possible opportunity. We have never experienced such poor communication from a firm. The valuation was denied as "a 2.5 metre section of the property was classified as a two storey single skinned structure which may be structurally unstable". In itself this was fine and we proceeded to work with the vendor to resolve the problem, this was made virtually impossible through lack of commication from the surveyor and complete reluctance to give any opnion or guidance on what work was required despite providing plans from an architect and a structural engineer. We were simply told that giving an opinion was "underwriting the mortgage" which is preposterous- we simply wanted advice.
We then had to appoint an independent surveyor at our own additional cost to advise as to what would be suitible in order to make the wall good. Due to all these issues it became impossible for us to port the existing mortgage accross because of the lack of communication and esurv working for the bank and not for ourselves inspite of the substantial fee paid for the full structural survey. At a cost of £8k pentalty charge we have persued obtaining a new mortgage with another provider- Santander- so you can imagine our dismay when they appointed esurv to carry out the valuation. However, given that the problem had been rectified to the standard acceptable to an arcitect and structural engineer as well as the indepdent surveyor we felt confident that there would be no further problems. However, yesterday we have been informed by Santander that unfortuantely the mortgage valuation is still 0 because "a 2.5 meter section of the property was classified as a two storey single skinned structure which may be structurally unstable". We were completly gobsmacked by the incompetence that eSurv have demonstrated as it is clear to see that the new surveyor has simply used the previous valuation report and not carried out any kind of checks himself as if he had he would be more than aware that the remdial work had been completed in the past month and that it was now a double skinned wall with a steel joist added.
My main question is what is the best way to follow up and try and recoup some of the costs we've incurred as a result of the incompetence of eSurv? I have put in a complaint and tried to contact them via twitter however they have blocked me meaning i cannot contact them and seem determined not to respond in any way to the complaints I have put their way. Any guidance or advice on how to escalate this would be greatly appreciated...
Our house valuation nightmare began a number of months ago on a property we were looking to purchase in Weybridge. We intially looked to port our mortgage through our current provider Natwest and used eSurv to provide a full structural survey as well as the valuation which they conducted for the bank. The survey eventually came back after two weeks with a mortgage valuation of 0 after much chasing and a complete lack of communication from eSurv or Natwest inspite of the cash being taken at the first possible opportunity. We have never experienced such poor communication from a firm. The valuation was denied as "a 2.5 metre section of the property was classified as a two storey single skinned structure which may be structurally unstable". In itself this was fine and we proceeded to work with the vendor to resolve the problem, this was made virtually impossible through lack of commication from the surveyor and complete reluctance to give any opnion or guidance on what work was required despite providing plans from an architect and a structural engineer. We were simply told that giving an opinion was "underwriting the mortgage" which is preposterous- we simply wanted advice.
We then had to appoint an independent surveyor at our own additional cost to advise as to what would be suitible in order to make the wall good. Due to all these issues it became impossible for us to port the existing mortgage accross because of the lack of communication and esurv working for the bank and not for ourselves inspite of the substantial fee paid for the full structural survey. At a cost of £8k pentalty charge we have persued obtaining a new mortgage with another provider- Santander- so you can imagine our dismay when they appointed esurv to carry out the valuation. However, given that the problem had been rectified to the standard acceptable to an arcitect and structural engineer as well as the indepdent surveyor we felt confident that there would be no further problems. However, yesterday we have been informed by Santander that unfortuantely the mortgage valuation is still 0 because "a 2.5 meter section of the property was classified as a two storey single skinned structure which may be structurally unstable". We were completly gobsmacked by the incompetence that eSurv have demonstrated as it is clear to see that the new surveyor has simply used the previous valuation report and not carried out any kind of checks himself as if he had he would be more than aware that the remdial work had been completed in the past month and that it was now a double skinned wall with a steel joist added.
My main question is what is the best way to follow up and try and recoup some of the costs we've incurred as a result of the incompetence of eSurv? I have put in a complaint and tried to contact them via twitter however they have blocked me meaning i cannot contact them and seem determined not to respond in any way to the complaints I have put their way. Any guidance or advice on how to escalate this would be greatly appreciated...