‘My bank carried out the wrong kind of survey.'

Mortgages

We look at Wendy’s complaint about her lender carrying out the wrong type of survey. 

What happened

Wendy paid for a HomeBuyer’s Report, but the surveyor carried out a basic valuation. Although it realised the error, the bank failed to tell Wendy. There were defects in the house that would have been found if the right report had been done.

What we said

It was accepted that the bank carried out the wrong type of survey and didn’t tell Wendy about it.

We thought that armed with the report, Wendy would have been able to negotiate a small reduction in the purchase price with the vendor, to reflect the work that needed doing. To put things right, we said it would be fair for the bank to pay for the cost of some of the repairs. We also told the bank to compensate Wendy for her distress and inconvenience.