Surveyor advised not to buy, but we LOVE that house

[Vavamum]

Has anyone been in a situation where a surveyor recommended staying away from a property, but you bought it anyway? Is it completely reckless to do so?

Here’s a brief overview of my situation:

1. We had an offer of £265k accepted for a three-bedroom semi-detached house.
2. While waiting for the legal process to complete, the adjoining property went up for auction and sold for half of what we offered.
3. It turns out the neighboring house has subsidence issues, likely caused by drain water damage on a slope. The insurance company offered a settlement because the repair costs were higher than the property's value.
4. The new owners of that property plan to start remedial work, including underpinning, and claim it won’t cost anywhere near as much as the insurance had estimated.
5. Despite the subsidence next door, the house we’re buying shows no signs of structural issues. The previous owners lived there for decades, and it’s only on the market now because they passed away.
6. Our surveyor, who also surveyed the neighboring property, advised us to steer clear of this purchase. They’re concerned that the remedial work next door could affect our house and reduce its value.

We understand the logic behind the surveyor's advice, and it’s hard to ignore. However, we’ve fallen in love with the property and don’t want to give up on it without exploring all options. Could further investigation be worthwhile, or is this a clear sign that we should walk away?

Do you need a mortgage will you even get one if the survey adbises not to buy or valued it at a lot less than you are offering.

Anyway dont do it and I say this as someone who bought a bomb damaged home because I fell in love with it.

It takes a lot for surveyor to warn against purchasing. I’d walk away. Sorry!

The surveyor has warned against purchasing, and the new owners are doing underpinning on the cheap, they "claim it won’t cost anywhere near as much as the insurance had estimated".

Go for it OP. What could possibly go wrong?!

Don't touch it, subsidence is a nightmare. If the surveyor says don't then don't. That's what you're paying them for.

Walk away or renegotiate the price

We rented a property that had subsidence issues. When we tried to get contents insurance it showed up on all of the insurers systems and they told us they would only insure contents and not the building. Luckily we didn't need buildings insurance but it flagged up to me how difficult it
Would be to get anyone to insure it and how expensive it would be if you did find someone to insure it. Once you (or your neighbours) claim on subsidence insurers won't want to touch it

I wouldn't, sorry. Surveyors don't say that as a rule.

We nearly bought a house last year. Even by the time we'd offered we referred to the house as being in an abusive relationship with us. We adored it, it was a glorious Victorian town house with huge rooms and high ceilings 5 minutes from the centre of a lovely town... but omg the issues it had. And we could find a mental route around every one, because we looooved it. But the vendor turned out not to have sorted out something that his own agent told us would have been sorted, and we lost faith and pulled out.

But now we're in another gorgeous house, that we fell for the moment we got out of the car, and life is so much better than it would have been at the previous house. I can still kind of smell the image of the life I imagined in the previous house, but it doesn't hurt any more. Walk away.

Walk away.

They aren't two buildings - it's one building with a dividing wall down the middle.

You are going to have exactly the same problems - potentially worse when the neighbours start their DIY underpinning work.

Buying a house next door to a property that needs underpinning and other extensive work. I’d see this as the universe telling me this isn’t the house for me.
You might get through it without issues. But probably not.

You need a surveyor with letters after his name to state there is no evidence of subsidence or risk of in the new property - then the insurers will cough up if there is subsidence otherwise you are not covered for further subsidence.

@Vavamum Most posters seem to be assuming the house you want to buy has current subsidence or will be “infected” by next door. The infection theory is not really relevant as your potential house has been underpinned already. It’s unlikely to need it again. I’m assuming it’s insurable. No cracks is good and usually you insure your house, not the neighbours.

It’s not really clear what the surveyor is saying. Are they saying your house will get subsidence because next door has? Or is it that it’s overvalued? This being based on the sold price of next door?

My DH is a structural engineer and underpinned houses are better than non underpinned ones. For obvious reasons. In your case, I’d pay for a structural engineer to look at your house to evaluate the ground conditions and any concerns about next door.

Regarding the cost of underpinning, it’s unlikely to be £100,000. For a big house yes, a semi, no. It’s also the case that a whole house doesn’t subside. It’s usually a section of it - could be a corner. Subsidence repairs might be £30,000 in fairly straightforward cases. So that’s why I’d speak to a structural engineer because other repairs might be affecting the next door valuation. Before you drop the house, as others think you should, I would get a further report and ask for an evaluation as to whether the repairs next door might affect your house or not. You should then look at revising and offer or walking away.

I agree, that’s totally odd statement. How would the insurer possibly know. Who was sent out. And what was done to determine that?

We have been in a similar situation and discovered that we would not be able to get insurance. We were advised to find out who the seller's insurance company was and then continue with that. He didn't have insurance! He was living in a detached bungalow with a huge garden and no insurance. Walk away.

It is impossible that the remedial work next door wouldn't cause the forces acting on this house to shift. It's like a game of pickupsticks when you start messing with foundations.

Would you buy this house for £400,000? You are likely to need to spend a lot more than £100,000 especially if the neighbours are planning to do their work on the cheap (and probably therefore badly)

Do not fall in love with objects. Save your love for people. Any house can be made into a wonderful home if the people there are full of love. Buy a house that won't break you. Buying a fixer-upper property can be so stressful it ruins your relationships triggering divorce. Believe your surveyor.

Do you need a mortgage? If so :

Given the surveyors report, is the mortgage offer still good ? If so :

Have you got an insurance quite and will it cover structural issues?

Honestly, if a surveyor is telling you it’s a bad buy, please believe them.

Its a three bed semi really lt cannot be THAT special.

I like "normal" houses and unless i had money to burn I'd run.

The reason is, irrespective of whether the underpining is actually a problem, unless its a long term move you will at some point need to sell... when you do its going to be INCREDIBLY difficult because very few people will want to touch this house with a barge pole due to its real or perceived problems.

I'm many, many months into the sale of a flat where there is subsidence in a block some distance away. Our block is completely fine, has no issues at all. Lender is now refusing to lend on it, only found out after all the other legal work was complete. Tread very carefully if you do decide to proceed.

Walk away. We bought an underpinned house in an area where it was not uncommon. Selling the house was the most stressful period of my life by a long shot. 5 abandoned sales because of insurance/mortgage issues for the purchasers. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone - even someone I really really disliked.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a surveyor advising someone not to buy. I’d listen to them to be honest.

I had a general survey and they advised me to avoid…. I then got an accredited structural engineer involved who said it was not as bad as they made out. He did his survey and costed up… I am going ahead …

Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole - sorry

Why would you take the risk?! 🙈

I’d run away for sure. Other properties will come up.

My brother had a survey like this and they were going to continue and my mum had to convince him to pull out. They found another property and are very happy there.

It’s just a house. There are millions of other houses to be had without the issues this one potentially has. Honestly, you’d be bonkers to buy it!

the new owners own a construction company - should’ve mentioned this. They’re not just randomly DIYing underpinning on a cheap