AIBU to think it shouldn't take this long? Subsidence claim.

[Picklesandpies]

Posting again here for traffic - any advice and experience hugely appreciated.

We have discovered our small extension that runs across the back of our 1930s house has developed subsidence. The rest of the house is structurally sound thank goodness. We had our insurance company out to look at it about 3 months ago and they believed it to be an issue with cracked underground drainage pipes (and the water leaking into ground has made it soft). Their own inspection team confirmed this was the case but that it falls to the local water company to fix it. Southern Water came recently to inspect the drains and said there was no problem to fix. So I don't know where this leaves us.

Anyway, my question is - how long do these things take? The insurance company have said it should be completed by October NEXT YEAR. I just can't believe it will take this long. We are desperate to move house next year and this puts a complete spanner in the works.

Can anyone share their experiences with me or offer any advice which might speed things up a bit for us? I feel as though we are going to be trapped here for the next two years.

AIBU in thinking this is too long to wait?

Thanks so much!

It can take ages, sorry. The cause needs to be identified and fixed. There will be a long period of monitoring to ensure the building is no longer moving. Depending on the extent of the damage the repairs may need to go out to tender, and it can take a while for those to come back and be reviewed. Once approved, the repairs should start fairly quickly because that's the easiest part. You say there's an issue with identifying the source of the leak though? That needs rectifying first.
Subsidence claims can - and often do - take years to complete. It doesn't mean you can't sell your house though, your insurers will often agree to continue dealing with the new property owners until it's complete.
First things first though, let your insurers know what the water company have told you.

Thanks for your helpful reply. Really appreciate the info. We did let the insurance company know that Southern Water disagreed with their findings - they are speaking to them tomorrow and then we will figure out what's what.

I think we will go and speak with some local estate agents and see what they say as regards the impact it will have on selling the house. This is exactly why we want to buy a newer property. It's such a lot of stress all the time and something is always going wrong