Past subsidence claim...

[mostlyrain]

We are in the process of buying a house. It's been a long slog and just as it feels we are nearly there one of the enquiries comes back to say there was a past insurance claim for subsidence in the 1990s. Repair work was undertaken and no further damage has been noted. It's a probate property so the vendors don't know any more than that. What do we do????

Ask who insures it and for an idea of the premiums. It was twenty odd years ago though.

snap! well nearly...

we've found the house we're buying has had underpinning to the garage, but we're not sure why. I've asked the seller's solicitors lots of questions, but not had any answers yet. The estate agent told us when the owners extended the garage one of the footings slipped. That sounds very odd to us though. I'm not sure what we'll do.

From what I've read the current insurers have an obligation to let you transfer the policy (assuming it's still in force if it's a probate sale?). There are also specialist brokers who can advise on insurance.

Have you had a full structural survey? if not, maybe it's worth getting a structural engineer out?

Be careful, get a full survey. My friends house is un sellable due to subsidence and insurers are refusing to pay so they are completely stuck.

MrsPigling perhaps the garage's foundations are not as strong or as deep as the house's foundations? I think it was a fairly common fault with estates built in the 70s/80s.

mostlyrain definitely find out who insures the property and what the premiums are. Does the vendor have any paperwork at all? You should get a full structural survey done in any event, so that you can make an informed decision whether to proceed with the purchase.

it depends on the size of the claim, i work in property insurance, and providing work had been done we would still insure. its where there is a possibility of re-occurrence which would course problems. Get full survey done and go with your gut. Even if you did get insurance you probably find that the excess would be higher that usual ( usually £1,000) so dependent on size of claim and past history this would be a factor.

Thanks everyone! We're having a full survey done in 10 days time. The solicitor has asked for the insurance details so we can do some more digging. The last house we wanted to buy fell through as it had been flooded so this is dejuvu!

The dealbreaker for me would be this: is this problem likely to come back
again in the future ? especially if I want to sell If the problem returned and
I wanted to sell to people who will need a mortgage for example
Subsidence is always on property seller questionnaire

We're now in this situation.. did you buy the house? @mostlyrain

Depends on the reasons for the claim. Not all subsidence is equal.

My friend’s mum extended into the garage not realising the garage wasn’t as deep in terms of foundations. When problems occured it worked out cheaper to rebuild the whole house but as the insurers were involved in every step of the process from prev owners policy to her (it was transferred due to minor subsidence issues that were originally attributed to something else) - and they paid out fully. House was rebuilt and due to the type of subsidence claim the insurer agreed to treat it as a new / different house and their insurance became a lot cheaper.

Another friend lives in what was formerly swamp / marshland - the subsidence that occurred in her house is not really fixable long term. Eventually the house is going to become uninhabitable. They are taking action against the developer and the council in the hope they can get some money. They’re still young and so are looking for another property in the meantime - but have basically wasted all their mortgage payments thus far. Stuff of nightmares!

Get a structural survey, and continue insuring with the same buildings insurance co.

If no further movement, it should be fine.

@MaryJayneSarah

We're now in this situation.. did you buy the house? *@mostlyrain*

Yes we did, although we sold 2 years ago. It was fine. The damage was done by a large tree which was removed and the damage was repaired. Our insurance was higher as a result but nothing horrific.