Am I required by law to get a property value assessment when refinancing my mortgage?

Question by Masters: Am I required by law to get a property value assessment when refinancing my mortgage?
The situation is that I had been working with a mortgage broker for about 3 months, of trying to get my refinance approved. After that I decided, what the hell, I went to another broker, within a day they had me not only a lender who’s going to give me the money, but CMHC also approved it. So everything is set.

I tell this to the other broker, and obviously they are really disappointed after all the work they put in. I tell them what the other place is willing to do for me.

Then of course they try to save their sale by asking questions.

The one thing that prompted this post is that they say it is required by Canadian law that when refinancing a mortgage, I have to get my property value assessed.

My application for refinancing went through the lender and CMHC (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation) and neither of them even bothered asking for an assessment. They just took it at the value we put in the application (Approx $ 350,000) and gave the OK.

They also saying to be careful of hidden fees. Now the only hidden fee I can foresee, is when I first got this company’s name, they said for their services they may be a $ 500 fee. Which, for all the money this deal is going to save me, is chump change. So I have no problem with that. But I’m going to ask anyway.

So really, is it required by law to get an assessment?

Best answer:

Answer by Bill
Not sure about Canadian law but no legitimate lender is going to fund a $ 350k loan without a current appraisal.

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