Estate agent told btl valuation surveyor, house is unsuitable and will not pass valuation

Landlord Discussion Property Investment
1

Hi there

First time posting so please forgive me if this post is a bit confusing.

I put an offer on a property and went ahead to secure a BTL which was accepted, the house does need some light works but nothing major, bit of plastering, painting and carpet. The broker viewed the photos and did an online tour of the house and said it shouldn’t be a problem as long as it has a working kitchen and bathroom all should be fine, as it has both of these, i didn’t envisage a problem. However the valuation surveyor phoned the Estate Agent and was told that they believe the house is not suitable to be rented out in its current condition and wouldn’t pass the valuation. So the Valuation Officer cancelled making a booking. This all happened yesterday at 5pm and i haven’t contacted the Estate Agent or broker yet? Im wondering if anyone can give me any advice before i speak to either of them and what my best option is as i still want to purchase the house as similar houses less than 3 mins walk sold for substantially more just months ago.

Any advice is welcomed, I would love to know if this has happened to anyone else before and what the outcome was? I’m truly grateful for any help.

Thanks Sophia Heiab

2

Seems ridiculous. As long as kitchen and bathroom are of a certain standard that’s normally all that needed for a mortgage.

Why the surveyor doesn’t allow for basic remedial work to bring it upto standard before renting out is beyond me!

If a different surveyor had seen the property then it may well have satisfied them. You could seek another lender, the issue is they often use the same surveyors.

What if the property was down valued by lender, could you make up the shortfall?

3

It seems odd as its the estste agents job to sell the property. However, it may well not be suitable to rent out in its current condition. Standards are higher for rental properties than owner occupiers. If you are planning to do some work on it before letting, I suggest you send a list of these works to all parties with estimated costs and reassure them that you are not planning to let the property until it would at lesst achieve the Decent Homes Standard being proposed for the PRS next year. You might want to take a look at this standard first to just make sure its achievable within your budget.