Help please! DH worried sick about subsidence

[GurlwiththeFrothyCurl]

I hope there is someone who can give us some advice. We live in a 1930s semi which, like many houses, has fine cracks in several places. When we bought it, about 10 years ago, we had a survey done that said it had historic movement but that there was nothing to worry about now. For example, the bathroom window is obviously out of line, but has not got any worse since we have lived here. The soil here is sandy rather than clay.

We have tried to look after the house and have had several rooms replastered and/or tiled and have not seen any cracks open up again or get worse.

Now our joined-on neighbour has announced that they have subsidence in a part of their house which is quite a way away from the party wall. We are worried about this for a number of reasons:

1. That we will have to notify our insurers and that this will increase our premiums.
   
2. That we will lose value in our house - although we have no intention of moving for quite a few years.
   
   My DH suffers from several disabilities and also clinical depression and so he is worrying himself sick about this. We don't get on very well with our neighbours and are not sure what to do next. Should we ask for a copy of their report (assuming that they have actually had someone qualified to look at this rather than a builder)? Should we notify our insurers? Should we get a report done on our house?
   
   Any advice would be really welcome :)

[plutocrap]

Ask to see the report then go from there.

[plutocrap]

Ask to see the report then go from there.

[kerala]

Its insurable though so would be covered by insurance so not worth getting too het up about? I would tell insurers otherwise your policy might be invalidated.

Our street got caught up in a contaminated land issue, several neighbours had to pay out £20k to get their gardens dug out - this is uninsurable. So I always looked at people with subsidence as being in a good position compared to this.

[tricot39]

For classic tree related subsistence you need clay or silt soil. Sandy soils are not usually affected by trees unless it is mixed in with clay or silt.

However sandy soils can have fine particles washed out by leaking drains and cause subsistence as the soil compacts.

There are other causes like peat layers or inadequate foundations.

so before you start worrying find out what the cause of their problem is. you can then decide what to do. eg if it is drain related you could get a survey/repairs done on your drains and notify all of this to the insurers. it's unlikely there would be an issue.

bottom line is that if you had a problem then you would have cracks appearing.

good luck.

ps - if the neighbours end up getting some underpinning done within 3m of your house they will need a party wall award. do ensure you get a structural engineer to act on your behalf and advise on differential effects of partial underpinning. the neighbour's insurance will pay the fees.

[GurlwiththeFrothyCurl]

Thank you for your replies. Yes, it seems pretty obvious that we need to see their report. I just hope they will be reasonable and let us see it!

[IfElephantsWoreTrousers]

An alternative option: don't ask to see the report, don't mention subsidence again, SELL your house ASAP and don't mention the s word at any point. If you have the misfortune that "s" is discovered during the sales process be surprised, and admit no previous inkling (unless your neighbour has told you in writing).

Your buildings insurance will include cover against subsidence, but this is a one-time only deal. If subsidence is discovered then your insurers will pay up to have underpinning work done. However, once that has been done you will find it extremely difficult to ever sell that house as it will be effectively unmortgageable (or only mortgageable more expensive than other similar houses) so you'll probably only be able to sell if you find a cash buyer - unless you want that house to be where you live for the rest of your life, then selling quick before any of this happens is worth considering.

[plutocrap]

Then what recourse does the next mug buyer have, IfElephantsWoreTroursers?

[ElephantsCanRemember]

IfElephants Our previous house was underpinned and we sold it a year ago. The only stipulation to the new owners mortgage was that they got insured by the same company we had been using. So not true that the OP would struggle to sell or would only be able to sell to a cash buyer.

[PatriciaHolm]

IfElephants, that's not true. Plenty of mortgage providers will lend on a house that has had previous subsidence as long as it was dealt with correctly and there is current surveyors report stating that. Insurance will be expensive though.

If houses with previous subsidence couldn't get mortgages, a large number of homes in South East England would be unsellable - it's all clay!

[LimeSwan]

Hi, I've recently discovered I have subsidence from open/displaced joints in the drain, bath and WC waste join kitchen waste then into a shared drain with next door. My insurer is dealing with it but I need to know if it's OK to use the bath/WC/kitchen sink and washing machine? I'm worried it'll make the problem worse while I'm waiting for the drainage repairs to be carried out, any advice please?