Disagree with your Help to Buy valuation? Your options
The short answer
You're not stuck with a valuation you think is wrong. Start with the valuer: RICS rules oblige them to consider genuine evidence, and missed comparables or unrecorded defects do change reports. Failing that, you can commission a fresh valuation and submit that instead - you choose which report goes to the administrator. What you can't do is negotiate with the administrator directly; they take a compliant report's figure as read.
First: check what "wrong" means
A 20% equity loan turns every £10,000 of valuation into £2,000 of repayment, so the instinct to challenge a high figure is rational. But be honest about the direction of your evidence. "The flat upstairs sold for £15,000 less in March" is evidence. "Zoopla says less" and "it feels high" are not - automated estimates carry no weight against an internal inspection with comparables. Equally, if you're selling, a low-looking valuation usually doesn't matter: the repayment uses the higher of sale price and valuation, so the sale price simply takes over.
The escalation ladder
1. Go back to your valuer with evidence. Recent sold prices (not asking prices) of genuinely comparable homes, defects the report didn't note, errors of fact - square footage, bedroom count, tenure. Valuers amend reports when the evidence is real; it costs you nothing to ask.
2. Commission a second valuation. You're entitled to instruct a different RICS valuer and pay the fee again. If the second report comes in materially different, submit the one you prefer - the administrator requires a compliant report, not a particular one. Two similar figures, meanwhile, are their own answer.
3. Use time, if the market's moving your way. Valuations expire after three months, and a falling market re-prices your repayment with it. Waiting has a cost from year six - the loan's interest - so this is arithmetic, not principle: interest paid versus repayment saved.
Want a second opinion that counts?
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Compare valuation quotesCommon questions
Can the administrator reject my valuation for being too low?
They reject reports for rule-breaking - missing comparables, non-independent valuer, no internal inspection - not for the figure itself. A compliant report stands, whichever direction it surprised you in.
I part-repaid at a high valuation - can I claim anything back later?
No - each transaction settles at its own valuation and stays settled, the same way a falling market doesn't reopen a completed repayment in the administrator's favour. It cuts both ways.
My home has defects the valuer ignored - what evidence helps?
Contractor quotes, survey reports, photographs - anything dated and specific. Structural issues, subsidence history and major repairs genuinely move valuations; worn kitchens and dated bathrooms move them much less than owners hope.
Does challenging the valuation pause the process?
The three-month validity keeps running, so move fast: query the report within days of receiving it, and line up the second valuation promptly if you're going that route. A challenge that drifts past expiry just becomes a fresh valuation anyway.
Sources and further reading