Subsidence and selling advice

[Deliaskis]

Hi there,

Don't know if anyone has any advice or experience of this. We're in the process of selling our house, and the (very dithery and flappy) woman who is buying it has had a full survey done which said 'some minor subsidence', and she is now dithering about whether to go ahead (she has dithered about hundreds of other things, this is just the latest).

The thing is, the house is on an estate of about 70 houses built in the 60s, and there was some very minor 'settling' subsidence just after they were built. The same thing came up on our report when we bought the house 11 years ago.

We have never had any problems getting insurance, we're not in a 'subsidence area', and nothing has moved for over 50 years.

What can we do to convince her? I know she is just worried, but this is really not an issue. The other side of the coin is that we are buying her house, and we are both selling below market value (us more so than her), so it is really not a case of us just offering to knock some money off the price.

Can surveyors say when they think it happened? i.e. if we paid for a second survey to do specifically this?

We really need to push things along as she has dithered so much our mortgage offer is about to expire.

Thanks in advance.
D

[Chestnutx3]

Only problem with subsidence is getting insurance. Usually you have to take on the same insurance as the previous owners or your own mortgage company will usually offer insurance. This does mean that often you don't get the cheapest insurance. All insurance forms will have a box to tick to say whether the property has ever had subsidence. If you tick that box then they won't give you insurance, if you don't and it has turned up on the survey then you are lying and the insurance is invalid.

It is a big issue that we downplayed. We had it in one of our properties, we got a letter from our insurance company saying they would insure the house again for the new owners, and had the insurance premiums so show we weren't paying over the odds. The estate agent was used to say it was very common etc.... some buyers were put off.

[Gonzo33]

Most surveyor reports will say if there are any cracks/subsidence and also state whether it is long standing or not. If it is long standing as a buyer I wouldn't be worried. If it was new in a house of that age I would be.

I think she need's to call the surveyor to clarify.

[Chestnutx3]

Insurance companies will not care if the movement happened 20 years ago especially if there was a claim.

[Deliaskis]

Thanks for replies. We have had another survery done looking at this specifically and they have confirmed it is historical, with no movement since, no reason to expect further movement apart from usual seasonal growth/shrinkage and no remedial work needed (or even possible).

So will hopefully be able to reassure lady we are buying/selling to.

D