Home we are buying has subsidence

OrwellianTimes · 2025-05-22T07:23:33+00:00

Got the survey report yesterday, I’m kicking myself that I didn’t spot it, but it’s on a side of a wall of the house’s porch that we didn’t look at. zig-zag line up the brickwork that has been filled but looks to have moved since filling. survey says: - There is indication of minor structural movement / subsidence - No treatment needed but monitoring should be put in place and measured every 6 months. - there are roots in one of the drains. - there is evidence of re rendering done badly on another rendered wall in a line. This house is at our max budget. We are unlikely to have the capital to fix big issues for some years. Do we walk away? It’s a lovely house, the one we loved the most, but it’s not perfect- small kitchen, funny shaped lounge. Outstanding views. Lovely garden. Great bedroom space.

Bobthepotplant · 22/05/2025 08:43

Sadly I’d probably walk away or negotiate price reduction if possible. If you’re not going to have the budget in the near future to deal with this problem, it could cause an issue.

TheFlis · 22/05/2025 08:44

Walk away. It could cost you a fortune, insurance alone will be super expensive.

Arborist · 22/05/2025 08:46

Walk away. Losing the conveyancing and survey fees will be cheaper in the long run. And as PP mentioned, your house insurer will ask the specific question about subsidence.

NewBinBag · 22/05/2025 08:47

Subsidence is one of the things insurers hate - take into account you may have high premiums/ no subsidence cover.

Will the bank lend on a property with subsidence?

Also, if they've tried to cover that up, what other horrors are lurking?

Personally I'd walk away.
If you continue, renegotiate hard on the price.

Bobthepotplant · 22/05/2025 08:49

Agree with PP. Subsidence along with flood risks are like a red flag to insurers and may make it difficult to resell.

fourelementary · 22/05/2025 08:50

Walk away. As pp said insurance can be tricky, and you may find your mortgage lender insists on structural work being paid for before they lend…

S0j0urn4r · 22/05/2025 08:53

Walk.

Whyherewego · 22/05/2025 08:56

There was a previous thread similar to this.
Basically you need the vendor to fix the subsidence as they can claim on their insurance. You will not be able to get it fixed under insurance with that survey.
I bought a house with similar issues, history of structural movement. Vendors fixed it all pre exchange, engaged a professional structural engineer who wrote a pre and post works report which was paid for by them but was under my instruction ie the report was written for me. This i then used to give to building insurance. I usually have to get specialist insurers ie not high street names but a broker handles all this for me. I do have a larger excess for subsidence too.

MalcolmMoo · 22/05/2025 09:03

Unfortunately yes I’d be walking away. I know it’s sad if it was your dream house but everything happens for a reason and an even better house will come up! And in a few years you’ll be thinking how glad you are you pulled out of the sale.

Greenartywitch · 22/05/2025 09:20

I would walk away OP.

ChoppyChoppy · 22/05/2025 09:28

I wouldn’t Necessarily walk away for minor subsidence. It depends on lots of things. The fact the repair to the zig-zag crack has cracked since it was done may be down to how it was repaired rather than subsidence. Consider getting a structural engineer to have a look.
If you are going to consider the house I’d get the owners to sort out the drains. It’s really good you had a drain surgery. I always get them when I buy a new house.

WorriedMutha · 22/05/2025 09:34

Sticking with it isn't an option if you can't get a mortgage and buildings insurance. This is one for a cash buying builder. I'm sorry but the vendor has to suck it up and fix this under his insurance. He can then remarket when he has all the assurances in place.

KievLoverTwo · 22/05/2025 09:51

Come round my house, count the cracks and tell me you still want to buy a house with subsidence!

When we moved in, it was visible in x2 places: where an extension joins the lounge. The owners were aware.

In the space of 7 months there isn't a room at the front of the house that doesn't have very visible cracks in every room, both inside and out, above and below windows, across ceilings, along skirting boards in some places. The patio terrace at the back has heaved to an alarming degree, the steps have cracked (and are pulling away from the house AND sinking), and even the asphalt out the front of the house has a gigantic, seam like crack in it. The terrace patio at the back is pulling away from the extension, there's a 1 inch gap.

Seven months. It's genuinely shocking.

Now, when we moved, we could only find ONE insurer who was prepared to quote us for contents insurance. We thought it was because we're on a river (around 7 metres away and 4 metres above it), but have since learned that all the houses are subsiding. So, it's more likely to do with nearby subsidence claims than their risk adverseness towards a river that has never flooded.

Added to that, the cracking and popping noises the house only seems to make in the middle of the night really get my back up - they're always at 3-5am and wake us up.

We paid more than seven times I have ever paid for our contents insurance: £330. That's not even to insure the house.

So, I'd have little faith in just being told to monitor it. Certainly, I'd need to know the cause and I'd be talking to all the neighbours about the history of said house and their own houses.

(we are renting, I'd never buy this house, not even at half its market value)

ReadAgain · 22/05/2025 10:00

KievLoverTwo · 22/05/2025 09:51

Come round my house, count the cracks and tell me you still want to buy a house with subsidence!

When we moved in, it was visible in x2 places: where an extension joins the lounge. The owners were aware.

In the space of 7 months there isn't a room at the front of the house that doesn't have very visible cracks in every room, both inside and out, above and below windows, across ceilings, along skirting boards in some places. The patio terrace at the back has heaved to an alarming degree, the steps have cracked (and are pulling away from the house AND sinking), and even the asphalt out the front of the house has a gigantic, seam like crack in it. The terrace patio at the back is pulling away from the extension, there's a 1 inch gap.

Seven months. It's genuinely shocking.

Now, when we moved, we could only find ONE insurer who was prepared to quote us for contents insurance. We thought it was because we're on a river (around 7 metres away and 4 metres above it), but have since learned that all the houses are subsiding. So, it's more likely to do with nearby subsidence claims than their risk adverseness towards a river that has never flooded.

Added to that, the cracking and popping noises the house only seems to make in the middle of the night really get my back up - they're always at 3-5am and wake us up.

We paid more than seven times I have ever paid for our contents insurance: £330. That's not even to insure the house.

So, I'd have little faith in just being told to monitor it. Certainly, I'd need to know the cause and I'd be talking to all the neighbours about the history of said house and their own houses.

(we are renting, I'd never buy this house, not even at half its market value)

Scary isn't it!

We walked away from buying a large Victorian house with cracks discovered up the gable end.
Survey showed only the staircase was keeping the gable end upright! Vendor had minimised during showing us around, saying no previous work had been carried out (it had). Cost us about £3,000 to not buy it!

I'm a worrier so would never have settled. Any little crack… I was also worried about not being able to sell if we ever decided to move. We knew we would have to spend about £150,000 renovating (before including the subsidence). Our builder quoted minimum £50,000 to have the house underpinned, working on so many thousand per square foot.

Saying that, it has sold and is still standing.

KievLoverTwo · 22/05/2025 10:11

ReadAgain · 22/05/2025 10:00

Scary isn't it!

We walked away from buying a large Victorian house with cracks discovered up the gable end.
Survey showed only the staircase was keeping the gable end upright! Vendor had minimised during showing us around, saying no previous work had been carried out (it had). Cost us about £3,000 to not buy it!

I'm a worrier so would never have settled. Any little crack… I was also worried about not being able to sell if we ever decided to move. We knew we would have to spend about £150,000 renovating (before including the subsidence). Our builder quoted minimum £50,000 to have the house underpinned, working on so many thousand per square foot.

Saying that, it has sold and is still standing.

Show quote history

Yeah. We had almost no rain during winter, so I can only assume it was a dry summer here, then we had 2 months of bitter frost in Jan/Feb, and normal/dry weather since.

I can only assume irregular weather patterns are the cause. Because whilst the river is pretty terrifying during storms, it otherwise just idles by - we could walk into it now and only be up to just past our ankles.

It's really disturbing how quickly the damage happens. I didn't know such a thing was possible.

PraisebetoGod · 22/05/2025 10:15

Walk away.

rainingsnoring · 22/05/2025 11:41

Yes. I would walk away.

C8H10N4O2 · 22/05/2025 14:19

Was your surveyor also a structural engineer (some are)? If not you need a structural engineer’s report. Its near impossible to diagnose subsidence from a single visit and some of the signs assumed to be subsidence come from other causes.

If the surveyor is local to the house ask about other houses in the road - is this clay soil with a high degree of underpinning or is this house an anomaly (the former can be better)? You can also look at planning/building consents on the LA website for work in the road to see if there are records in the road or surrounding areas. Some LAs have quite specific rules around this to ensure work is done properly.

If a structural engineer’s report says a strong likelihood but its a good house then you need to ensure the insurers will continue the cover to you (its best to stick with the same insurer at this stage) and then you negotiate on price. Effectively you would be taking on the hassle factor of potentially living with underpinning work or root barrier work at some point.

People assume insurance on an underpinned house will be more expensive but its not necessarily true. Once the work is done and checked you can shop around but its worth using a broker in the early years. People also assume it makes a house hard to sell but a good house in a popular area on clay soil will still be a good house in a popular area and sell. Pretty much anywhere in the London basin is at risk of subsidence due to the soil - there is no shortage of buyers.

Mumlaplomb · 22/05/2025 14:46

Walk away. It’s not worth the hassle and seems to have lots of problems.

Verite1 · 22/05/2025 14:48

KievLoverTwo · 22/05/2025 09:51

Come round my house, count the cracks and tell me you still want to buy a house with subsidence!

When we moved in, it was visible in x2 places: where an extension joins the lounge. The owners were aware.

In the space of 7 months there isn't a room at the front of the house that doesn't have very visible cracks in every room, both inside and out, above and below windows, across ceilings, along skirting boards in some places. The patio terrace at the back has heaved to an alarming degree, the steps have cracked (and are pulling away from the house AND sinking), and even the asphalt out the front of the house has a gigantic, seam like crack in it. The terrace patio at the back is pulling away from the extension, there's a 1 inch gap.

Seven months. It's genuinely shocking.

Now, when we moved, we could only find ONE insurer who was prepared to quote us for contents insurance. We thought it was because we're on a river (around 7 metres away and 4 metres above it), but have since learned that all the houses are subsiding. So, it's more likely to do with nearby subsidence claims than their risk adverseness towards a river that has never flooded.

Added to that, the cracking and popping noises the house only seems to make in the middle of the night really get my back up - they're always at 3-5am and wake us up.

We paid more than seven times I have ever paid for our contents insurance: £330. That's not even to insure the house.

So, I'd have little faith in just being told to monitor it. Certainly, I'd need to know the cause and I'd be talking to all the neighbours about the history of said house and their own houses.

(we are renting, I'd never buy this house, not even at half its market value)

That sounds quite extreme though. We have a bit of subsidence but all it means is that we do have a few cracks in some of the walls and the window sills in one room are a bit wonky. Much of London is built on clay so it is much more susceptible to subsidence. But our house is still standing 150 years later!

MaryGreenhill · 22/05/2025 14:48

Don't go there OP. It's a potential money pit.

Growlybear83 · 22/05/2025 15:19

I wouldn’t pull out just on the basis of insurance - it was always the case that a company which insured a property with subsidence was obliged to maintain the cover when the property changed hands, and I’m not aware that has changed. we had structural work done to our house because of subsidence and it was very difficult to find other insurance companies to even give us a quote for buildings insurance for many years, but the insurance company we had when we bought the house were obliged to maintain our policy and we were surprised that the repair work didn’t affect the premium more than it did. However, you may find it difficult to get a mortgage unless you’ve got a very large deposit.

Original poster

OrwellianTimes · 22/05/2025 17:17

Growlybear83 · 22/05/2025 15:19

I wouldn’t pull out just on the basis of insurance - it was always the case that a company which insured a property with subsidence was obliged to maintain the cover when the property changed hands, and I’m not aware that has changed. we had structural work done to our house because of subsidence and it was very difficult to find other insurance companies to even give us a quote for buildings insurance for many years, but the insurance company we had when we bought the house were obliged to maintain our policy and we were surprised that the repair work didn’t affect the premium more than it did. However, you may find it difficult to get a mortgage unless you’ve got a very large deposit.

Our deposit is 50% - but the mortage will be high. It’s not a dream home, but it’s the closest we’ve found with potential to improve/extend which is rare for this price range in this area. We already had to pull out of one house because of boundary disputes, then we lost one because sellers changed their minds and I’m exhausted already.

We broke the chain and are in rental so no pressure to move fast other than how expensive rental is.

OP posts:

Original poster

OrwellianTimes · 22/05/2025 17:21

C8H10N4O2 · 22/05/2025 14:19

Was your surveyor also a structural engineer (some are)? If not you need a structural engineer’s report. Its near impossible to diagnose subsidence from a single visit and some of the signs assumed to be subsidence come from other causes.

If the surveyor is local to the house ask about other houses in the road - is this clay soil with a high degree of underpinning or is this house an anomaly (the former can be better)? You can also look at planning/building consents on the LA website for work in the road to see if there are records in the road or surrounding areas. Some LAs have quite specific rules around this to ensure work is done properly.

If a structural engineer’s report says a strong likelihood but its a good house then you need to ensure the insurers will continue the cover to you (its best to stick with the same insurer at this stage) and then you negotiate on price. Effectively you would be taking on the hassle factor of potentially living with underpinning work or root barrier work at some point.

People assume insurance on an underpinned house will be more expensive but its not necessarily true. Once the work is done and checked you can shop around but its worth using a broker in the early years. People also assume it makes a house hard to sell but a good house in a popular area on clay soil will still be a good house in a popular area and sell. Pretty much anywhere in the London basin is at risk of subsidence due to the soil - there is no shortage of buyers.

The surveyor wasn’t a structural engineer. The soil according to the geological survey is free draining loam, and its late 1980’s build do subsidence is very suprising.

I grew up in a hard soil massively expanded during Victorian era town area and loads of houses had to be underpinned and still sold. I’ve not heard of anyone needing it around here so I would imagine it would put future buyers off.

OP posts:

Original poster

OrwellianTimes · 22/05/2025 17:30

ReadAgain · 22/05/2025 10:00

Scary isn't it!

We walked away from buying a large Victorian house with cracks discovered up the gable end.
Survey showed only the staircase was keeping the gable end upright! Vendor had minimised during showing us around, saying no previous work had been carried out (it had). Cost us about £3,000 to not buy it!

I'm a worrier so would never have settled. Any little crack… I was also worried about not being able to sell if we ever decided to move. We knew we would have to spend about £150,000 renovating (before including the subsidence). Our builder quoted minimum £50,000 to have the house underpinned, working on so many thousand per square foot.

Saying that, it has sold and is still standing.

Show quote history

I’m a worrier too. Stuff like that plays on my mind too much.

We are moving into a more expensive area for secondary school/teen years. The plan is to downsize and release funds in 20 years time, so I don’t want to be left with a hard to sell house.

OP posts: