House I am buying previously had subsidence - what to do

[LondonFoodie61]

Hi

I am in the process of buying a house in kent, in an area that is prone to subsidence

After receiving the initial forms i learned the property suffered from subsidence 25 years ago and part of the rear wall was underpinned.

That was was then removed a few years ago when the house was extended.

It is insurable but there are very few willing to offer cover, and the best quote is roughly triple my current insurance.

The house appears to have no ongoing issues with subsidence. I am considering pulling out but the house is in an area i like and houses dont often come up. I carefully considered the sale price of other houses in the area when making my offer and offered a bit above this and the asking price to ensure the offer was accepted (this was prior to me being aware of the issue)

Appreciate this is a matter of tolerence to risk etc but what would you do in this situation?

a) continue with the purchase assuming the survey shows no ongoing signs of subsidence
b) try to renegotiate on the sale price
c) pull out

Opinions greatly appreciated!

We have an underpinned house
If you can't afford insurance at probably double the going rate, don't buy it

We bought an underpinned house just over 20 years ago and haven't had any issues with it since we purchased. Yes our insurance is higher than it would be without the underpinning but no where near triple. Just do your homework and get an independent survey by a structural engineer.

Definitely get a good structural engineer to look. Go through a broker for insurance if not already as I found when I had my old house that had an underpinned wall the prices came in a lot cheaper than expected. I would look at option B and try get some money off of its not worth the price paid. It wouldn't necessarily put me off. Over the next ten years we are going to see a big rise in houses needing underpinning if the weather continues.

After 25 years the premiums really shouldn't be that high. I'd second the advice to go to a broker.

I wouldn't be put off buying it if a surveyor agrees that it was 25 years ago and no problems since then. Just shop around for insurance.

Can I ask where in Kent this is?

Personally I wouldn't consider a house with any history of subsidence, regardless of price. It could be half price and I'd still not want it.

But if you're intent on moving to an area where subsidence is common (never heard of this?) then I guess you'll come across this again in your search so maybe best to accept it comes with a level of risk.

Thanks for the responses everyone, we have used a broker to find an insurance quote that is approx 2.5 times our current insurance so better but still pricey. We have also had our survey back which seems to confirm the house isn't moving but there are trees in neighbours gardens which may prove problematic in the future