Countrywide Surveying Services - Derby

chris campton

This company will downgrade the value of your house as others say. - even the Nationwide house price index puts this house at 30k more than Countrywide Surveying.

The house in question was last valued in 2019 by a different and fully independent valuation company, who valued the property at only 15k less than this company did in 2024..........perhaps as they are "Countrywide" they don't have a true understanding of local markets and areas?

That means this house has only increased in value by 15k in 5 years.......according to Countrywide Surveying services.

When you put the previous valuation into the nationwide house price index, it has an increase of 45k and local estate agents put it even higher.......

I would suggest to avoid at all costs if possible for your own purposes, but unfortunately this was setup through our new mortgage provider, so we had no choice. Hopefully this won't affect what we need to borrow, or the rate we have been offered.

Olivia Kelly

I would give it 0 stars if possible. Countrywide valued my property on behalf of my buyer for their lender.

To give some context, my property had been valued by 2 registered valuers before putting it on the market.

They came and carried out the valuation survey on Saturday 12th of October and were at my property for approximately 20 minutes if that. They asked no questions about the property other than how much the service charge was. I asked if I needed to show them around and they said no and all they needed was some measurements and photos. ( they did not even measure the room I was sitting in at all). They said the report would be over to the lender by Monday which I can confirm it was.

Although the outcome was a devaluation of 10k. I paid 97.5k in 2022,(valued by countrywide too) since living here I have improved the property to a turn key standard. My buyers viewed my property the day after it went on the market and it was sold straight away… they even offered above asking price to secure the property there and then as they loved it.

For reference I had it on the market for £104,995, I accepted an offer for £107.5k and they valued it at £95k (I paid
£97.5k in 2022) The down valuation has then led to my buyer retracting their offer and having to renegotiate lower leaving me with less equity and having to pull out of my accepted offer on my next property…

My frustration lies with Countrywide on this one due to the fact I know there was no local knowledge from the ‘surveyor’ as well as they didn't factor in the condition of the property or the improvements made. I understand the point of a valuation for a lender is a whole different ball game but even looking at the comparable evidence myself it does not support their valuation. Most recently one sold for 97k in January 2024. This was a top floor in good condition but right at the entrance of the estate closer to the railway etc. Mine is a ground-floor apartment (more suited to a variety of buyers as there are no lifts) with modernised decor throughout, newer bathrooms, and new flooring, the boiler is 6 years old and has been serviced every year. The list could go on.

I have read horror stories online about these guys and I work in the industry myself. I'm currently due to be a charted surveyor, I work for a blue-chip company in their property department I have a RICS accredited degree and I can see both sides to these sorts of scenarios but not in this case. I would never like to bash another industry professional but this type of professional practice is wrong, the service goes against the RICS code of conduct entirely which are honesty, integrity, competence, service, respect, and responsibility. I'm not the first and will not be the last to have similar feedback.

Also, to add I have had covid I phoned ahead to let them know and they didn't even know what their company policy was they had to ring me back, the Val was supposed to be carried out on Sunday as I tested positive on the Wednesday prior (company policy 5 days from positive test) however they rang and asked due to being in the area can they come on Saturday I said it was fine by me and the surveyor did wear PPE… maybe that's why they didn't hang around or want to engage in asking questions. If that's the case do better, reschedule.

Going forward if my future lender/ buyer is using this company I won't be using that lender or proceeding with the buyer. The reviews are appalling and all of a similar nature. Even worse, my lender tried to sell me their service to upgrade my lender's val to a level 2 survey - I declined. If anyone Is reading this that has had a bad experience with these guys or thinking about using their service, from someone in the industry, go local and get someone who understands your property and knows the local area. You may pay more but your outcome will be far better.

Mohammed Husnat

Steve Smart of Countrywide didn't inspect loft conversion started a few days ago. He reported to lender the same day. The lender is demanding a (RICS) fire safety report, or completion certificate for the loft (not inspected), as a condition before I can have the additional borrowing to convert our loft.

See photo of progress at inspection by Countrywide.

Catherine Murphy

I can not stress this enough, please do not use this company. I own multiple properties and have been through many surveys and in all the years have never seen anything like this. Valuer was in the house less than 20 minutes, proceeded to try and convince me not to rent out my house as someone would “trash it” and explained there is “no value in the rental of my property”. He then proceeded to go into great detail about a valuation he had carried out recently on behalf of a landlord whereby he told the landlords Tennant he was paying too much rent… bare in mind he’s paid to do a job on behalf of the landlord (backtracking quickly when I raised my concern to say, I didn’t actually tell him, but he could tell by my face)

As expected in line with the Google reviews he came in on my property …. £45 k under asking which caused the deal to fall through. His comps related to a house that was half of my square footage and not comparable in anyway. Guess what.. I paid for a red book valuation which came in bang on the assumed price. This company have cost me thousands in charges. I accept everyone has different methodologies when valuing, but having been involved in the process at least five times to date I can assure you I haven’t seen anything like this before. Not to mention the breach of confidentiality. I will be looking to recoup my losses and I can only advise anyone reading this to avoid at all costs.

Leyla S

If I could give less than 1 star I would. The surveyor Ms Crawford was at my property for 10 minutes maximum. She didn't even have the courtesy to take her shoes off. I had 2 surveyors value my property at 275k and 260k respectively and they were at my property for over 40 minutes. Ms Crawford decided to undervalue my home by 50K after 5 minutes. Hmmmmmmm. Was offered full access to the garden, loft, shed but no, not interested. Even Zoopla gives a valuation of 255K so I can't even say she used that. So Ms Crawford I hope you are proud of your extraordinarily thorough work which has negative impacts of people's lives simply because you couldn't be bothered. So Ms Crawford my buyer has put an appeal in. Do the right thing or I will be making an official complaint about your conduct and competency.........

Yasmin

I would give zero stars if I could. As the comment below the exact same has happened to us except Jonathan Oliver was only in our house for two minutes (have proof of this with CCTV on my home) was so uninterested from knocking on the door didn’t do any measurements didn’t look in every room wasn’t interested in the downstairs toilet or garden didn’t even look at them, and has said to the buyer our home is worth 16k less then he agreed to pay. Absolute shambles of a company who come from three hours away and have no clue of the area!! This company should not be allowed to get away with this and it should be local people. Will be appealing this decision

Matt

Do not use this company!! Surveyor turned up an hour late, spent ages looking outside staring aimlessly at the walls. End of terrace Victorian house, came to the conclusion that the outer wall was only 110mm thick single skin brick - clearly double-skin wall as proven by the three builders I've since had look at the property. This mistake and complete incompetence led to our buyers withdrawing from the sale. Ridiculous marks for 3 on several parts of the house, trying to grade a 100 year old-plus house based on the equivalent new-build which they should not be allowed to do.

I completely agree with the other negative reviews that it gives existing home-owners anxiety over their move and jeopardises the sale. The guy was not interested, didn't look remotely bothered. I've spent in excess of £10000 refurbishing the property in my ownership with plastering, kitchen and bathroom refurbs and apparently still not up to standard by this completely unrealistic and frankly idiotic guidelines they use.

Jane Kelly

Surveyor made false assumptions about the build of our house in his report, said we have a retro fit cavity wall, when we don’t, there is no physical evidence of this and is also not on the deeds . No planning permission for patio doors and decking - this is not even required. Maybe best for him to check the facts before detailing such falsities. Said electrical unit is unsafe despite us having an up to date EICR, which we even offered to show him. Electric heaters have been upgraded to high end efficient models, yet this was written in a negative light in the report. All of this caused our very nervous first time buyers to pull out of sale. Avoid avoid avoid, these people are life ruiners, who seem to thrive on creating incorrect assumptions about properties. We have reported him to the RICS and he should start looking for another job.