In recent years, down valuations have caused numerous homebuyers significant financial distress, undermining their efforts to move homes efficiently. These unexpected decreases in property valuations often result in buyers having to increase their deposits or, worse, losing their dream homes altogether. Additionally, the current processes involved in moving home are overly complex and outdated, leading to unnecessary delays and stress. We call on the relevant authorities to ban down valuations and implement reforms to make the home moving process smoother and more predictable. Please sign this petition to support fairer and more transparent housing transactions.

Thanks for taking the time to read my petition, Below is a rough back story of our personal experience over the last year and why this move is causing us so much stress... 

Our property is a two bedroom first floor apartment in  the town of Stevenage. When we first viewed the property in 2016 we fell in love and knew it would be great for us as a couple, being near our places of work and accessible links via train etc, near to our families etc we absolutely loved it and ended up purchasing via shared ownership and moved in November.

Since then we have welcomed our two wonderful sons and we have created many happy memories here however last year in August we decided that 4 of us being in this apartment was a bit much and it was time for our next adventure as a family and for someone else to make their own memories here. Also an apartment with no garden is not an ideal place for two very energetic boys.

We put our apartment on the market with the estate agents in September 2023, i have to say they have been fantastic and this post is not to take away from the work I know they have been doing tirelessly in the background, I just feel myself as a person could no longer let this stress take over our lives without at least being able to have a chance to explain the impact this situation has had on us. 

We had many viewings, lots of people liked the apartment however it just wasn't for them, one person who loved it but unfortunately didn't pass affordability checks, one person said they wanted to make an offer and then went AWOL, we then found out in January of this year that a young lady, who was a first time buyer wanted to purchase our property as she too had the same love for it we did. During this time we found a home we wished to purchase and all seemed to be going well, surveyors were booked, solicitors were instructed and the show was on the road, this was until we were advised our flat had been 'down valued' this was appealed and taken to nationwide yet it took until April still with no answers, that our buyer decided that she no longer wanted to wait for this process to be completed and pulled out of the transaction, this meant the sellers of the property we had offered on also decided they did not want to wait for us and we missed out on that home.

To say we were upset would be an understatement, 7 months since our property had been put on the market, £800 solicitor fees and we were back to square one, what had we done? What was wrong with our flat? The reason being for the down value were issues that had all been rectified, even now this issue has not been responded or actioned.

Fast forward to May, we have found new buyers and the same issue has happened again, we are being told our property is worth £15,000 less than what it was valued at, this means the deposit for our dream home is lost and once again through no fault of our own we are being punished. 

Another point I will quickly add but won't delve too much into as I do not want to share someone else's info with out their permission, another 2 properties in our building have sold for more than our asking price with no issues at all!!!!

Before you can put your property on the market you have to pay for a chartered surveyor to come and value your property, this is roughly anything from £200 to £300, we paid £275 in august. These last approximately 3 months there after you have to pay for this to be extended, ours currently £135 each time. What is the point of this process if when it comes down to it this valuation is just completely disregarded? as of July if this does not get rectified we would've spent £700 alone on a valuation that isn't even being considered, all for us to be back where we started? explain how this makes sense.

This time around no issues have been given for the down valuations, I have spent time liaising with local MP's, ombudsman, citizens advice, complaints team at nationwide and their CEO however in my research I found that 46% of all properties in the UK are down valued by lenders. where does this stop? 

We have spent 8 years of our lives working and paying off our mortgage for those same companies to say it is void, we have not made any money on our property in 8 years, every single penny we have put into our property to be wiped clean. There is already a housing crisis, property being at it's most expensive it has ever been(Although strangely enough ours hasn't increased in value according to nationwide) a favourite saying of mine is 'Make it make sense' which seems very appropriate to use in this circumstance.

I am not asking for our flat to be worth millions, i am not asking for a £50,000 price increase, i just want our flat to be worth what we were told so we can have the deposit and funds for our new house and not face the heartbreak of missing out again, i can not put into words how much we love the house we have had an offer accepted on and we simply cannot afford to go through this process again, we would not have the funds to even attempt to move after this and I can not tell you what affect this will have on the 4 of us.

I know I am not alone in this process and I hope that awareness can be brought, the government needs to do something to help stop this from happening as it will have a huge impact on the housing market, the implications this can cause is unbelievable. 

Please share my petition and any experiences you may have had, i have seen it time and time again where people are cheated out of what they have worked hard for and i can take it no longer! We just want the best for our children and their future...

Myself and my family really appreciate your time and attention to this matter!!!