Negligent Valuations
As the tide turns out on the housing market, many people are discovering that the price they paid for their house or flat is a lot higher than its current value. Worse still, lots of buyers are discovering that they paid too much for their home or buy to let property in the first place because it was negligently overvalued.
If you think that your property was overvalued by a negligent surveyor who carried out a valuation for you or your mortgage lender, you may have a compensation claim.
You may also have a compensation claim against your solicitor if he failed to point out to you any inconsistencies in the documents that you received before exchanging contract, or did not tell you about any unexplained increase in price since the last sale. The solicitor may be negligent if he does not warn you that your vendor is conducting the transaction in a way that is unusual or may give rise to a suspicion of fraud or misrepresentation.
If you think that your property has been negligently overvalued then the first thing you should do is obtain a retrospective valuation of the property from a local surveyor. The report should compare the price you paid with the true value on the date that you exchanged contracts. If the difference is more than 15% then the valuation may be negligent and you may have a compensation claim.
Contact us to discuss a potential overvaluation claim, or better still obtain your retrospective valuation evidence before contacting us to discuss your next steps so that we can start the compensation claim off right away.