Terry complained about the valuation of a property he wanted to buy, which was carried out by an independent surveyor.
What happened
Terry applied to his bank for a mortgage, so the bank had an independent surveyor value the property. The surveyor was trained through the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and had no links to the bank.
The surveyor valued the property at a much lower cost than the asking price Terry had agreed. The bank’s mortgage offer was based on the value stated by the surveyor.
As the seller wouldn’t change the price, Terry didn’t have enough money to buy the house. He complained to the bank that the valuation was wrong.
What we said
We noted that an independent surveyor completed the valuation and directed Terry to the RICS to discuss the situation.
We didn’t hold the bank responsible for the report and thought it was reasonable to use the independent valuation to decide how much to lend. So we didn’t uphold Terry’s complaint.