Halifax to refund valuation costs if house purchases fall through

Further strengthening its support of the housing market, Halifax has today announced the details of its valuation fee promise. The promise means that Halifax will refund valuation costs to mortgage applicants if their home purchase falls through, through no fault of their own.*

Halifax is the first lender to guarantee a refund of valuation costs where the transaction does not complete. The costs will be refunded when the mortgage applicant goes on to complete on an alternative property with Halifax.

The cost of conducting a property valuation is dependent on the property purchase price and the type of valuation being carried out. With costs for a basic valuation starting at £370 and increasing to £690 for a full detailed survey1, an unsuccessful sale can cause a buyer to lose hundreds of pounds.

Stephen Noakes, Mortgage Director at Halifax said; "Unfortunately from time to time sales can fall through, which is not only disappointing for the homebuyer, but costly too. By refunding the valuation fee when this happens, it will alleviate some of the extra burden for buyers to fund the valuation fee for their next property purchase." This is another example of Halifax challenging market norms in order to support customers through the home buying process."

The promise applies to all Halifax mortgage customers applying for any product through both the branch and intermediary channels. Customers who have had their property valuations commissioned through Halifax will receive their initial valuation fee refunded.

Payments will be made directly to the customers once completion has been reached on a Halifax mortgage for another property.