In late 2019 I contacted my insurance company to report a crack in an internal wall which made me suspect subsidence. They sent someone out to take photos, and reported that it wasn’t subsidence. I pointed out the errors in their report (not mentioning the big gap between the skirting board and the floor, saying there was no tree nearby when there was a huge one on the pavement outside the house),. They accepted that it was subsidence and did some tests next to the house which showed there was root incursion into my foundations.
The tree is local authority and has not been maintained in the ten years I have lived in the house. It is taller than the house. The LA wouldn’t act without monitoring so the insurers commenced a year’s worth of monitoring which concluded in May this year.
Yesterday I had a phone call to say that they weren’t going to cut down the tree, thattthe LA were being put ‘on warning’ and that they would be moving to the repair stage. They claim that the movement stopped and has reversed. The repairs they have listed (without ever seeing the damage) involve stitching the crack and replastering. No mention of the floor or attempt to get up to date pictures.
When this started 18+ months ago I had a permanent full time job and no plans to move. Last November I was made redundant and my new job is too far to commute. I need to sell, but I cannot imagine anyone wanting to buy a house with known subsidence in the past, let alone anywhere where the cause of the damage is still present. Even if they did, my lovely house has been seriously devalued.
I am crushed. I am on a very low income and was already upset that I have to move. I cannot see how I’ll get through this without losing almost everything, including my chance of buying a new house.
Has anyone any experience of this? I will be replying to the letter to say I am not happy (the letter also contained several inaccuracies) but I have no idea whether I’ll get anywhere. I just want the tree gone so I can sell my house and move on.
(Sorry, that was a bit of an essay)