court hearing thursday

Hi , I am back at court thursday for the second part of the FDR hearing . I have sent letters to my husbands solicitor since the last hearing but had, had no reply till saturday when I got a letter saying,That at the last hearing the valuation of the home was agreed at £170,000 for the purpose of the FDR.If the next hearing is wasted as a result of you now seking to renegotiate the valuation, we shall be seeking an Order for Costs against you .

After the hearing I requested my own valuation but had no response to that . I am certain it was not decided as it was definately going to go on the value of £170,000. The judge told me to go away and think about what I wanted. Is it true ,what his solicitor is saying that they could seek an Order for Costs against me?Any help greatly appreciated . Thankyou . Teresa

Have you got your own valuations? Preferably 3 from different local estate agents? You need to know how much you''re fighting over, to know if it''s worth fighting for.

No , cos I cant get in the house . He changed the locks .

You could use Rightmove to get an estimate of what properties in your road/area are selling for.
You can find out actually what the houses sold for rather than the price they were put on the market at

Hi

Zoopla is a really good place to get a valuation on a particular property as depending on whether you want a higher or lower valuation, it allows you to amend the valuation by adding plus points to the property, such as kitchen or bathroom upgrades and whether the property is in a location location location type area.

As Jaymdee said, like with Rightmove, you can find out how much a property was bought or sold for and when.

If you take the Zoopla valuation along with you to the hearing, it can give some weight to your argument if it is vastly different to the valuation supplied by the other side. It could also give you the opportunity to have an agreed "middle ground" for negotiating purposes, therefore removing the chance of a wasted hearing and also the other side''s threat of having costs awarded against you.

You do however have the argument that although you requested the opportunity of having your own valuation carried out on the property, that opportunity was denied you because the request was ignored by the other side, the question is how can they look to you for their costs if you disagree their valuation when you were denied the chance of getting your own valuation.

I would say a Rightmove or Zoopla valuation is the way to go, print it off and take it with you.

Good luck for Thursday

Yes i agree Do some research first to find out if £170k seems far out. At my FDR there was no consensus as the 3 estate agents valuations were so different. Your ex should also be submitting 3. The judge at my FDR ordered a surveyors report , this cost about £500 (this cost was split).