Valuation Audit Services (VAS) has become the Association of Short Term Lenders’ (ASTL) latest associate member.

VAS launched in November 2015 and provides a critical review of third party valuation reports prior to lending. It claims the benefits of this service include identifying any mistakes within a report, ensuring the valuation has been carried out in line with a lender’s requirements and highlighting to a lender any pertinent lending risks which have not been considered within the valuation.

In addition, VAS provides its clients with retrospective valuation reviews post lending, which it says help to act as a quality control function and assists a lender to manage the quality of their valuation panels. Typically, lenders using this service do not have an in-house surveyor so this provides a valuable service and further helps to mitigate any future risks.

Benson Hersch (pictured, CEO of the ASTL, said: “Valuation Audit Services provides a unique and niche service. Anything that helps mitigate risk to lenders at this time of constant change is likely to be of real value to our members, so we welcome Stephen and VAS as a valuable new associate member of the ASTL.”

Stephen Todd, founder and director of VAS, added: “VAS provides a bespoke and niche service to its clients. We are here to review third party valuations ensuring they have been carried out correctly and to identify any additional property specific lending risks.

“Our advice is included within a lenders underwriting/credit committee process and is especially useful where a lender does not have an in-house property professional. This is a new service to the market and one that I think adds real value to our clients, helping protect their loan books.

“VAS can respond to the fast pace of a bridging lender and the wider secondary lending market and is the perfect partner to the ASTL, offering a unique and unrivalled service to its members.”