Coal mining subsistence claims near home I’m buying

[Em2122]

I had the results from the coal mining search and there is 3 houses who have made claims within 50m. Is this something to worry about. We are paying for a more detailed report on if the claims were successful and what for, but not sure if this will help my decision on whether it’s a big deal or not.

How long ago were the claims made?

Claims were really common in the town where I live, many people just claimed for the money and never did any remedial work. A lot of it was really minor, i.e. straightening light switches and other such things.

I think they are after 1994 but the more detailed report should give more info. The house I’m buying does have historic settlement but survey said it’s ok now

The claim against our house was mid 80s. No work was ever done to rectify (owner's just took the money) and the survey picked up no evidence. The bank weren't bothered. The only difference it's made to us is restricted slightly who we could get buildings insurance with.

Would my insurance be higher?

The restriction is that we only get buildings insurance through companies who ask "has the property had a claim for subsidence or movement in the last 10 years". Some ask "has the property ever had a claim for subsidence or movement".

We pay 10 pounds a month for buildings insurance so it's not expensive.

We had the same issues when buying our house. Most of the houses on the street had claimed all around the same time. I spoke to an elderly neighbour and he said someone from the coal board went round door to door inspecting and putting claims in and they got some money. We didnt have any in depth searches done but our solicitor advised us to get insurance where we could claim for subsidence.

Jumping in on this thread...I've just had a survey report back on the house I'm selling, which says 'potential for natural or non natural ground subsistence'. House is 12 years old, I bought from new. Still building on the estate and houses sell quickly.

Apparently this 'potential' is nothing to do with my actual house, but the 'ground within 4km'. Everything else on surveys were fine.

Those of you who bought (and maybe sold) with something similar about subsistence issues...how did your mortgage company respond? I'm worried that my sale is going to fall through because of this. My buildings insurance covers subsistence, but nothing showed up when I did my searches, so there was nothing to declare at that point.