Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maine

I assume you are using Bank-financing to purchase or refinance a commercial property? The appraiser is selected "randomly" from an approved group of licensed appraisers to avoid the appearance of influence by the Bank or borrower on the outcome. Even though the borrower pays for the appraisal, it is not supposed to be influenced. However, despite objective standards, there are some subjective choices an appraiser must make within a range of factors, and certain facts may be incorrect. Do you have, or can you request the prior apprisal on the building from the current owner?

As long as you are not directly influening the actual outcome, but are attempting to correct facts or subjective factors applied (which still could likely affect the outcome), it is best to work through your loan officer to let him/her know the errors and find out the best method of communication of that to the appraiser.

If your efforts are denied, you do not have any legal claim I am aware of against the appraiser unless there is fraud. You can request that the Bank hire another appraiser and you would likely be charged for another appraisal. Also consider that a Bank is not bound to the appraisal, if it is a portfolio loan they can take the appraisal into account but still make the loan desite a lower value.

I do assist business clients with commerical transactions and also represent a few local lenders so feel free to call me at 767-4824 if more is needed beyond this post.