Not upheld: Mortgage administration / arrears handling complaint against Saffron Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Mr and Mrs I applied for a buy-to-let remortgage with Saffron Building Society in January 2024, requesting that valuation not be instructed until other checks were completed. After Saffron completed its checks in March 2024, a £600 valuation was carried out, but the application was subsequently declined without explanation. Mr and Mrs I complained, seeking a refund of the valuation fee and compensation. The ombudsman found that Saffron was entitled to decline the application without providing reasons, that the application did not meet its lending criteria, and that the valuation fee was non-refundable as stated in the lending illustration. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman determined that Saffron was entitled to exercise its commercial judgment to decline the mortgage application without providing reasons, particularly for an unregulated buy-to-let mortgage. The application legitimately did not meet Saffron's lending criteria, which could not reasonably have been identified until a late stage. The valuation fee was clearly stated as non-refundable after the valuation was carried out, and Saffron was under no obligation to allow the report to be used by another lender.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website