Can I choose the valuer or do I have to use the banks choice?

When borrowing money from the bank to purchase a new home, your bank may require you to get a valuation on the property.  Can you choose the valuer or do you have to use the bank’s choice? Luke Snedden of Threefold explains…

ASB, ANZ, Westpac & Sovereign now require the valuation to be ordered through PropertyIQ http://www.propertyiq.co.nz/ . A PropertyIQ valuer meets the banks requirements and is on their list. Basically PropertyIQ is a clearing house for collecting payment and assigning a valuer to value your property.

BNZ, Kiwibank, HSBC and the other smaller banks will have valuers who they won’t accept valuations from, but these vary so it is best to ask your Mortgage Adviser to check if the valuer you want to use is ok.

The banks like it because it doesn’t allow the Client to instruct a “friendly” valuer who may inflate the value of the property because of a personal connection with the client. It also means that the bank doesn’t have a hand in who values the clients property either.

Some of the banks above will accept valuations that are completed by valuers on the PropertyIQ panel but not ordered through PropertyIQ, this loophole is the only way the Client can take some control over who the valuer is.

Luke Snedden is a Partner/Registered Financial Advisor of Threefold Insurance, Mortgages and Advice – www.threefold.co.nz, 021 480 064.

Anita Dobson, Harcourts Whangaparaoa – 021 337 093.  As always, please ensure you seek your own, independent advice.