Appraisal for Lending: A Comparative Annex

Abstract

The first thematic annex of Recent Court Decisions treats appraisal for lending: the valuer's own liability, independence from loan production, and market against forced-sale value at realization. Bratt v Jones [2025] EWCA Civ 562 restates the English two-stage test - a figure outside a 10-15 percent bracket of the correct value, and only then a method no reasonably competent valuer would use, with the burden on the claimant throughout and damages capped on SAAMCO principles. The United States material turns on independence: the Fannie Mae Selling Guide's appraisal-quality rules; the Cheroutes undervaluation pleading ruling and the StanCorp overvaluation complaint, both carried as allegations; Alig v Rocket Mortgage, in which the Fourth Circuit reversed a class certification and damages award for want of standing; and Aquidneck on reliance surviving intended-use disclaimers. Three Kenyan High Court decisions give forced-sale value a job description - it must exist and be contemporaneous - while business reporting adds that a competing opinion without fraud does not stop the auction, and Nigeria's Ohahuna applies the Cuckmere duty to sell on credible valuations. Mexico and Panama supply institutional material only. The annex records the absence of reasoned lending-appraisal judgments in the British Virgin Islands, Barbados, Kuwait, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Armenia and Angola rather than papering over it.