Equity Release Problems

m.elliott

In June of last year we took out a mortgage from BOI for the purchase of a house. The house was intended to be a renovation project, something that we could work on over a few years.

Our building surveyor gave us a “wish list” of suggested works and costings to this end. BOI said they understood that we wanted to work on the project over time, but they insisted that we provide proof of capacity for all of the required works at the outset, even though the couple we purchased the house from had recently been living in the house, and all that was needed for habitation was the reconnection of electricity and water.

We had to take out loans to provide this proof of capacity, something we did not initially intend on doing.

Now that the works are complete, and the property value is double (as reflected by the valuation), BOI are not remortgaging the funds we had to take out to do the renovations. This is especially surprising as part of our initial mortgage application involved re-approval of our application, for the house after the renovations had taken place on what would (and now is) the the new value of the house. Our solicitor is going through our correspondence and feels we were misled and has informed us that this is not standard practice to be unable to requisition funds these funds.

Can you please provide any detail on this process or any recourse available to ourselves?

Bank of Ireland: Sarah

m.elliott wrote: »

In June of last year we took out a mortgage from BOI for the purchase of a house. The house was intended to be a renovation project, something that we could work on over a few years.

Our building surveyor gave us a “wish list” of suggested works and costings to this end. BOI said they understood that we wanted to work on the project over time, but they insisted that we provide proof of capacity for all of the required works at the outset, even though the couple we purchased the house from had recently been living in the house, and all that was needed for habitation was the reconnection of electricity and water.

We had to take out loans to provide this proof of capacity, something we did not initially intend on doing.

Now that the works are complete, and the property value is double (as reflected by the valuation), BOI are not remortgaging the funds we had to take out to do the renovations. This is especially surprising as part of our initial mortgage application involved re-approval of our application, for the house after the renovations had taken place on what would (and now is) the the new value of the house. Our solicitor is going through our correspondence and feels we were misled and has informed us that this is not standard practice to be unable to requisition funds these funds.

Can you please provide any detail on this process or any recourse available to ourselves?

Hi m.elliott,

Thank you for contacting us on Boards. 

As this is very much account specific, we would be unable to advise you further on this here. We would recommend that you contact your Mortgage Advisor in your branch to discuss this further. They will be happy to look into this for you and arrange an appointment with you if needed. 
Please find the contact details for your branch here. You can also book an appointment online with your branch here. 

Please let us know if you need help with any other query. 

Thanks,
Sarah

m.elliott

Hi Sarah,

The reason we came to the forum was because our branch has not been able to assist with the problem.

There has been serious inconsistencies compared with industry standard home renovation mortgages, coupled with clearly nonsensical conditions and a procedural deficit that has forced us into a very difficult position with costly bridging loans we cannot put back into the mortgage.

We had been approved for the mortgage, but our branch insisted we reapply and prove capacity for the value of the property after works had been completed. Now that the building contractors are finished, the value of the house has more than doubled and they have told us that we cannot release this equity.

We have been trying to get clarification regarding the above without success from our branch since November, so we would appreciate if someone else could assist us with this. Our solicitor has also suggested a formal complaint be lodged as a prerequisite to the financial ombudsman procedures, as we review our options on what recourse to take. Please could you provide details on where to submit a complaint.

Bank of Ireland: Sarah

m.elliott wrote: »

Hi Sarah,

The reason we came to the forum was because our branch has not been able to assist with the problem.

There has been serious inconsistencies compared with industry standard home renovation mortgages, coupled with clearly nonsensical conditions and a procedural deficit that has forced us into a very difficult position with costly bridging loans we cannot put back into the mortgage.

We had been approved for the mortgage, but our branch insisted we reapply and prove capacity for the value of the property after works had been completed. Now that the building contractors are finished, the value of the house has more than doubled and they have told us that we cannot release this equity.

We have been trying to get clarification regarding the above without success from our branch since November, so we would appreciate if someone else could assist us with this. Our solicitor has also suggested a formal complaint be lodged as a prerequisite to the financial ombudsman procedures, as we review our options on what recourse to take. Please could you provide details on where to submit a complaint.

Hi m.elliott,

Thank you for your reply and we're very sorry to hear that you have not received the help that you've needed from your branch. 

We would like to help you resolve this, and we would be happy to arrange a call to you from our Mortgage Team to discuss this further. They can then look into this fully for you and provide advice.

If you would like us to arrange this for you, please send a private message by clicking on the link in my signature below. You will need signatures set to display in your Boards settings to see my signature. Please provide your name, account holding branch and a contact number (no account details are needed), we will be happy to then pass this on for you. 

Alternatively, if you wish to make a formal complaint, please see here for our complaints procedure.

Thanks,
Sarah