Buying a property with subsidence - help!

[FreshStart2025]

I’m buying a 3 bed semi detached and all was going well until the survey. The survey wrote that the garage is in a state of disrepair, with subsidence and should be demolished.

It’s an old house and the garage is also old. It’s detached and 20 metres from the house (bottom of garden). The house is sound.

My insurance won’t cover me nor the current owner’s insurance but I believe there are specialist insurance companies.

I thought one day, I would knock it down and put in a new garage / cabin but I don’t have the funds to do that yet.

What would you do?! We are all going to be devastated if we can’t buy it. It has taken ages to find this one and my budget is low.

Has anyone been in a similar position? What did you do?

Buy the house. Replace the garage. Simples.

Doesn’t sound like the garage is about to fall down.

Tricky to sort insurance though to buy the property, I have to have it for the mortgage.

Will see what a broker says I guess.

I'd pull out. That S word would be enough. Even if they say the house is sound.

It is possible that the surveyor was ultra cautious about the garage's condition, but its hard to know without photos.

I don't understand why they won't allow insurance when they are completely different buildings.

Other people are going to have the same issue.

Ask the owner to knock it down or you will pull out.

I would have thought subsidence on a detatched outbuilding 20 meters from the house wouldn't affect the mortgage or buildings insurance on the actual house itself? If it was an attached garage I wouldn't touch it with a 10foot pole.

Apparently it does. My current insurance company and the vendor’s insurance company won’t touch it, even if on an outbuilding.

we use HomeProtect and it covers subsidence.

there are others too - we found them and another (can’t remember name now!) on comparison sites and then had a final phone call to confirm details. It costs us about 70 pcm, house is worth 425k.

we got a survey to be sure it wasn’t ongoing and issues had been resolved or to find out cost of putting it right; it sounds like do this (at your cost) and then work out how much to replace garage etc and drop the offer by that much.

in our case we know the issues sorted so insurance is belts and braces and we’re really happy with the e house

This is going to be an issue for any buyer. So I’d ask the vendor to knock it down first.

Can you get a more detailed report to clarify the causes of the subsidence, an outbuildings might just have been poorly constructed with no foundations etc so the subsidence won't be a risk to the main house. Or it could be linked to clay soils or mine shafts or something and the house is at risk. As a buyer I would want to be certain there was no future risk to the house before buying.

Why would you insure a stand alone garage?

@FreshStart2025 try these guys:
http://www.gsi-insurance.com/

Is the property in an area that's known for subsidence? If so, I'd walk away.

If you don't know, your surveyor will (at least ours did when we wanted a crack checked out).

Try vasek insurance.

but like pp have said check for clay etc.

I’m confused. What does the current owner’s insurance cover then, just the house? In which case they should be happy to transfer than insurance over to you.

I would walk away.

The current owner has never made a claim for subsidence. It’s just a very old garage, the floor is has a concave part and she just uses it for storage. I mean, the main house was built in the 60s but I’m not sure about the garage. It’s old though. I presume her insurance covers the house and the outbuildings, same as any normal insurance.

Photo attached

So, there has been movement to the concrete base, as seen in the photo. But I don't see any structural cracks to the walls...
I rather suspect that the survey is OTT.

Is there even a dangerous structure notice on the garage?

Yes agree - subsidence is not usualy identified from a single survey. I'd expect the survey to say "signs of" in the garage and recommend a structural engineer's report.

If the house has no issues its more likely to be that the garage base was badly laid and is on the way out. Try contacting the current insurer and ask them for continuance but also speak to the surveyor in person to get clarity on their comments.

The survey said:

”The garage is in a state of disrepair and suffering from subsidence; and we recommend this be demolished”

I’ve spoken with the current insurer and they won’t continue cover

I would speak to the surveyor in person and ask them to elaborate, pointing out that their survey is currently making the house uninsurable. Its very unusual for a surveyor to make such a dramatic statement outside their primary area of expertise, even where there is some history.

Subsidence is not diagnosed on a single visit by a surveyor. Even a structural engineer will generally want to monitor over a period of time to distinguish subsidence from other causes of settlement or cracking.

If the surveyor had said "poorly constructed garage from the 60s is falling down" fair enough. Lots of cheap prefab garages with thin and cracking bases from that era would have been replaced by now. They may just be guilty of sloppy wording.

In reality it shouldn't stop the house being insured but I'd expect the insurers to want further checks before asigning. They currently insure the house so would be paying for any covered work either way.

I recently sold my late mother's house, which had a similar problem with the garage. There was a long crack along the floor, but no cracks in the brickwork walls. Perfectly normal in the 60's that garages were often built with shallower foundations than the house. Therefore garages were at more risk of subsidence. I have never known anyone not being able to get insurance though. That seems odd.

My late mother's buyer had a level 2 survey and this is what the surveyor wrote:

"3. STRUCTURAL MOVEMENT No evidence of recent or ongoing structural distortion was noted to the property. There is evidence of movement to the detached garage but this appears longstanding and historic, however it is not possible to provide assurances that further movement will not occur in the future."

The garage has been standing for over 60 years - not in great condition, but still standing. The buyer insured the property from the date of exchange and didn't have a problem obtaining cover.