Question about subsidence and what to do about insurance

[HeyHannah]

Hi Mumsnetters,

A few cracks have started appearing in my parents' house. My DH has had a look over the weekend and discovered some significant damage to a gutter around the same corner as the cracks. The ground below it has become pretty wet and soft, so it seems likely that the defective gutter has lead to a bit of subsidence.

DH thinks that we should try sorting this problem out before informing insurance etc, as we could then avoid a huge fuss over what could be quite a minor cause of the problem. Having done some reading online, it seems that insurance should indeed be contacted as a last resort when it comes to the "s" word. In addition, it seems like they may not even be covered for subsidence caused by the gutter as it is a maintenance issue (the house is a little neglected if I'm honest; we live some distance away and aren't able to help out as much as we should).

My parents were planning to move to a bungalow in around 2 years time. If we are lucky and the gutter repair fixes the problem, do they still need to disclose this potential "subsidence" when they go to sell? And if they do end up going down the insurance route and it turns out they aren't covered, what happens then? I understand that once subsidence is on your record the homeowner pretty much has to stay with the same insurer forever, but what if the insurance wouldn't cover it yet the property still has a history of subsidence? Can you just never get any insurance at all?

We are all rather panicked at the moment and would really appreciate some advice from anyone who has experience with this kind of thing. Obviously we need to get it sorted before it becomes much worse.

TIA

Hannah x

Find out if it's covered? Consider appointing a structural engineer to look into the possible subsidence. I don't know about declaring it on a sale. I think I'd feel very uncomfortable knowing it was subsidence and not declaring it. FYI - you should always be completely honest with insurers.

Tricky one - in-laws discovered a crack and rather than decorating over it went down the insurance route. Three years later the work to underpin the house still hasn't been done due to wrangling with neighbours over the removal of some mature trees. The stress has been terrible for them and they now really need to downsize because of other health issues.

Hi both, thanks for replying.

I'm so sorry to hear about your in-laws @Ruu, how awful for them... definitely makes me less inclined to suggest telling the insurers.

@kirinm, from what I've read I'm fairly confident that they aren't covered :( And to find out for sure would mean telling the insurance company. I know we are supposed to be honest with insurers but I've read so much on this subject that warns against it! I am the sort of person who likes everything to be totally above board, but it seems that being honest in this situation might cause my parents even bigger problems. I too would want to declare it in a sale, but I'm not sure what that would mean in terms of insurance.

Maybe it's worth them going down the we-buy-any-house route, taking a big hit on price but not having the stress of trying to sell through the normal channels.

I totally sympathise but imagine you were buying the house and it wasn't declared. It's not fair to pass the problem on to someone else, whose insurance will likely not cover as the damage will show its age. I also think it's very, very likely it will be found on a survey, so you could be delaying in the inevitable. We had to walk away from a house with movement issues but only because the owners did not deal with it appropriately. There are plenty of insurers who will cover movement, especially when the issue is rectified.

Also, should the issue worsen, and you eventually need to use the insurers due to the scale of the problem, you'll probably find that the attempts to cover the issue may cause them to reject a claim.

Surely if it is just because of badly maintained guttering it is settlement rather than subsidence. I would give it the summer to dry out and if crack has not worsened repair and paint. If not then go further re engineers and insurance.

I don't know where you are of course, but if you are somewhere where it has been dry for some time (only saying this because we have had no rain for 2 weeks) have you checked to make sure it's not a water pipe/sewage leak rather than a guttering fault? Its just that, with faulty guttering, you would usually have a wet and rather green wall down the side of the building if it has been going on for some time. Whatever the cause, I would swerve insurance and get a builder to take a look in the first instance. Also, of course, the cracking and the wet may be coincidental and unconnected.

Thanks guys.

@shutthefrontdoor14 I agree, I (and I'm confident my parents) would absolutely want to be honest with potential buyers. I am just interested in how other people have got around this after having minor subsidence issues which they haven't told insurers about. I know that insurance can be passed onto the next person if subsidence has been dealt with and was covered, but I've read that many people don't tell the insurers at all... so presumably they don't tell the purchasers either!!

Some good points there @bijouinnuendo1 & @longearedbat. Will have a closer look the next time we are there, see what happens over the coming weeks and look at getting a builder to assess the situation in the meantime.