Published 3 April 2020 · Last reviewed 3 April 2020 · Older article — see current rates
Property visits by Surveyors are suspended under Government “stay at home” guidelines. What this means for all Mortgage Valuations & Surveys.
Many lenders have pulled back from hight to loan to value lending. but some can run desktop valuations within certain parameters, and some have relaxed the rules further due to the pandemic. As a guide, the minimum deposit/equity needed to qualify is likely to be at least 25%. For example, if you are buying at £100,000 who would need to be contributing £25,000 as a deposit.
Certain properties such as new builds (including Help to Buy) where there are no track records of sales for the computer to cross-reference historic prices are likely to be excluded. Also, some buy-to-let lenders insist on visiting the property to make sure it’s going to be used as intended, and not, for instance, let to multiple families.
There are exceptions so talk this through with your Mortgage Advisor.
In my opinion, the ban on physical inspections will not be lifted until the Government makes their next big announcement which is expected in three weeks.
The good news is currently we have Residential Lenders who will lend up to 80% purchases and 85% on Remortgages without a need of a valuer visit.
For Standard Buy to Let Mortgages in Individual names and Limited companies we have lenders that can go upon to 75%. Loan to value however many lenders still insist on home visits for HMO products. Many Short Terms let products have been withdrawn.
Frequently Asked Questions On Mortgage Valuations
The public service health warning to stay indoors will first be needed to be lifted. There will then be a backlog to work through. So my advice is to keep watching the news and my blogs.
Most of the major mainstream banks can. If the lender is funded by the money markets then they may have rules from preventing them doing so.
No, the reverse the lender needs to understand how the property is let and to who. They also rely on local surveyor’s knowledge on rental expectations.
They understand the chain is under pressure and some have eased this by extending Mortgage Offers that are already in place.
In part, the difficulty is after 3 to 6 months of lock-down then recent purchase comparisons will be thin on the ground and this is a key component in the assessment.
No, this will be a computer indexed valuation from the last one the lender did. If you dispute the figure then you could ask for a surveyor to visit but this is probably advisable in this climate.