The accusation comes as a number of lenders, including Kensington, move towards more technology enabled processes through the launch of automated valuation models (AVMs), designed to speed up the mortgage application process.
However, James Carter, IFA at Virtue Financial, questioned the need for the lender to carry out so many additional audited valuations. He said: “On quite a few cases Kensington has requested an additional audited valuation after the application has been submitted. On one of the cases where this happened, the vendor had to take time off work, which should not be the case.”
He added that while lenders must be thorough when assessing prospective borrowers, the fact that no other lender carried out audited valuations as stringent as Kensington’s policy cast doubt over its viability.
He said: “Of course mortgage lenders need to carry out some form of check to ensure that the property and all of the information is correct, but forcing the vendor to take time off so that the lender can check the property seems like it is going too far.”
However, Alex Hammond, PR manager at Kensington Mortgages, defended the lenders policy to carry out audited valuations.
He said: “Kensington Mortgages is increasingly using AVMs on qualifying cases and these can save our customers time and hassle. However, as a responsible lender we take all the necessary steps to ensure we are making reliable and responsible lending decisions. As such we will always reserve the right to make a physical valuation of a property.”
