The Times has learnt that the bank, whose mortgage book is now run by UKFI, the company that manages the Government’s stakes in banks, is one of a number of buy-to-let and sub-prime lenders behind a mass mail-out of letters to surveyors. GE Money and GMAC-RFC, which were among the biggest lenders of buy-to-let and sub-prime deals before the market crashed in 2007, have also been sending out letters to surveyors after selling homes that they had repossessed for far less than the original valuation.

The solicitors’ letters state that the lender has made a loss on the sale of the property at a lower price than the original value and state that this could be a result of a negligence, informing the firm that it is under investigation.

The practice, which The Times first revealed in October, has already forced Allied Surveyors in England and Wales, one of the UK’s biggest independent surveying firms, out of business as a result of 36 professional negligence claims.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which represents 100,000 surveyors, has accused lenders of putting valuers businesses at risk without any evidence that their valuation was inaccurate. Valuers must inform their PI insurer of the claim and may not be able to afford future premiums if the insurer brands them high-risk.

Property prices fell by an average of 22 per cent before the trough in April last year, although new-build apartments fell in value by up to 50 per cent. A wave of arrears and repossessions — almost 90,000 since mid- 2007, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders — has left lenders facing potentially significant losses.

Bradford & Bingley and GMAC were among a group of lenders that were involved in securitisation — the buying and selling of loanbooks between lenders — a practice that was blamed for the sub-prime crisis.

A spokesman for Bradford & Bingley said: “We from time to time discover cases where we feel there is evidence of valuers’ negligence.”

A spokesman for GE Money said that it was “standard practice” when “there is a significant deviation between the valuation and the sale price”. GMAC declined to comment.

Source: The Times