House Valuation

Hi Wiki''s

Stbx has had a valuation on his house, a serious undervalue in my opinion, in fact, it has been valued at the same price he paid for it in 2004. Since purchasing it, it has had a bespoke kitchen and bathroom and new flooring, decorataing throughout and a conservatory built and garden landscaped.

He has obviously asked the agent to put the lowest possible price down for it - but the joke is, he has used the same agent as is marketing one identical property (in fact, next door!!!) only difference is next door does not have a conservatory; however it''s market price is £35k higher than his valuation.

There is also another slightly bigger house than his on the market with the same agent and it is £55k higher.

Now I know the two other properties are probably top heavy on the price and they have only just gone on the market so I am prepared to accept they would not sell at the prices they are at the moment, however for his to be valued for the same amount as he bought it in 2004 is ridiculous.

My questions are ... what would the Court accept as evidence to disprove his valuation? I am in the process of asking the agent to re look at his figures (I know the company, I used to work for them), however it will be one director asking another to review his figures - I await the outcome there.

His sols have said that if I do not agree the figure, I could have three valuations done on the property - obviously getting valuations are going to cost, and I don''t have the money to get three valuations. i could possibly stretch to one, would that be enough for the Court?

Many thanks for any help

When a value is disputed often the judge will order an independent valuation usually by a member of the royal chartered peeps, for now just get three estate agents to value the property, any dispute will be dealt with at the first appointment.

You can''t expect too much in this financial climate. I know I''m in a different country, but I''ve had three separate valuations on this property, and all three were identical - 33% less than we paid for it in 2006, despite having had in excess of an additional 50k Euros spent on refurbishment, including a new bathroom. Quite a loss, which she can''t accept, but such is the situation at present. A house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. A buyer''s market at the moment.

Chris

dukey wrote:

When a value is disputed often the judge will order an independent valuation usually by a member of the royal chartered peeps, for now just get three estate agents to value the property, any dispute will be dealt with at the first appointment.

Thanks Dukey but we have already had first appointment, the request for valuations on his house and mine (we have lived separately for the last year) were on each other''s questionnaires raised after exchanging updated form E''s and the Judge agreed we should answer each other''s questions. We need agreed valuations for the FDR in May and I want to try and use the FDR for the final hearing.

My problem is twofold, getting three estate agents through his door, can''t see him having that and then paying for said valuations - Initially, I will see if I can get his valuation figure looked at again - he appears to be playing dirty, so time for me to man up I think.

Thanks for your advice though xx

Triste en France wrote:

You can''t expect too much in this financial climate. I know I''m in a different country, but I''ve had three separate valuations on this property, and all three were identical - 33% less than we paid for it in 2006, despite having had in excess of an additional 50k Euros spent on refurbishment, including a new bathroom. Quite a loss, which she can''t accept, but such is the situation at present. A house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. A buyer''s market at the moment.

Chris

Hi Chris

Thanks for your reply.

I work in a conveyancing department and tbh we are run off our feet. It is not a slow market, albeit maybe a buyer''s one.

I absolutely agree that a house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, but I am afraid the market is not the same in England as it was in 2004 when he purchased the property - we have had dips but there has also been significant growth, especially in the mid terrace property.

His property has a bespoke kitchen and bathroom, I know, I designed them and paid for them (although he did pay me back) and a good kitchen and bathroom will always help achieve a fair price for a property.

I am more than prepared to accept it is not worth as much as the two sellers of the other properties the lane think (common mistake of overpricing as you only end up following the market down), however I cannot accept it is worth the same amount as he paid for eight years ago.

I just wondered what the Courts would accept as evidence. However I have to weigh up whether it is worth arguing over it at the FDR and risk having further Directions which equals more delaying or whether I should just accept it and get it over and done with quicker. He''s had enough of my life already, not wasting any more of it on him!

Thanks for your thoughts - made me realise I have a decision to make

Your best bet would be to share the cost of a chartered surveyors valuation (£3 - 400) and agree to be bound by it. However, a chartered surveyor will always put a lower value on a house than an estate agent because the surveyor has to put his name to the value, i.e. he has to guarantee that the house is worth xyz. Bear in mind that estate agents will always advertise houses at a higher price than the vendor is likely to achieve. A house in my area was advertised for 450K but it eventually sold for 390K. You could check the Land Registry House Price Index to see the trend in your area since 2004. Having a new kitchen and bathroom did not increase the value of my house.

Have you asked court if FDR can be used as FH, the only reason they do this is if your both miles apart and there is no chance of an agreement, with disputed home valuations i can`t see the judge agreeing.

There are sites on the net who can provide recent sale prices, ill pm one of the better ones, print them off, ideally you would file for Directions and tell the judge he wont allow the property to be valued bar the valuations he has, judges know valuations can be manipulated, if you get an agent out and say i want a value so it would sell in days it will be much lower than what they would otherwise provide, trouble is you don`t have time for directions now.

Chances are the FDR will be used as FDR so at least it can be ironed out, you have a direction to provide valuations, what exactly does the direction say word for word, pm if you don`t want to post on site.