A NEWTOWNABBEY man has had an application to remortgage his home rejected due “uncertainty” surrounding plans for a waste incinerator at Hightown.
Victor McCall lives on the Boghill Road, around one mile from the proposed site of the controversial waste disposal plant.
Mr McCall had applied for a remortgage with Santander, which sent a surveyor to assess the value of the property.
Last month, a High Court ruling said that plans to build the incinerator should not have been approved without ministerial approval. However, the Department for Infrastructure is appealing the decision.
A report from surveyors who assessed Mr McCall’s property, reads: “It is not possible to recommend the property as a suitable security for mortgage purposes because of the current uncertainty regarding the construction of a large scale incinerator on the Boghill Road.
“This has been the subject of widespread media coverage.
“Demand and saleability is likely to be significantly adversely affected at this time.”
Mr McCall said he may “lose his home”.
“Disappointing is an understatement,” he said.
“House and land was evaluated on Friday past to secure my re-mortgage – mortgage was all agreed. Credit checks were all passed and everything all up to this point was fine, and today we have just been notified by the bank Santander that the surveyor has came back with a non evaluation (£0 offer) due to plans of the incinerator, and has withdrawn our mortgage offer under unsafe terms and has refused to lend me. I may lose my home because of this. I’m so upset.”
A spokesperson for Santander, said: “As a prudent lender, prior to offering a mortgage or when re-mortgaging a property as in this case, we must ensure the applicant can afford the mortgage for the length of the term and also that there is adequate security against this loan. In this case, due to the property location, we were unable to lend because our independent surveyor believed the future saleability was limited.”
Countrywide Surveyors, who carried out the survey of Mr McCall's property, said: “Countrywide can confirm that CSS (Countrywide Surveying Services) prepared a valuation on the instruction of a lender client.
“Under our contractual terms and client confidentiality we are unable to discuss the report further.”