Buying a house with previous subsidence

[Megang4]

So we’ve decided to buy a house which had a previous subsidence claim due to a neighbours tree which the roots caused pavements to lift etc, a root barrier was fitted and it’s all been ok. Well when we spoke with the estate agents she said the subsidence claim was 20 years ago and it’s been ok since. We’ve now seen the insurance paperwork and it’s dated 2020. Turns out the incidence happened in 2020 and was fixed and monitored all through 2021 with no issues. We’ve also had a survey and surveyor says all looks good no sign of movement. Well I’ve just spoke with the estate agent and asked how comes we were told 20 years ago, she’s basically passed it off as she made mistakes with the date. Am I right to be a bit cheesed off, if we initially knew it was 5 years ago, we would have offered even lower. Anyway please can I ask if subsidence of 5 years ago would bother you? We are close to exchange now. Thanks

I have first hand experience of this:
whoever the insurance company is have a duty to continue cover at the same price. It will be difficult to find an alternative insurer to cover it.

Was work done eg underpinning? If so this work would come with guarantees which should give you some peace of mind. (I’d get a copy, or get your solicitor to read the small print of this).
on this basis it’s better it’s more recent.

However, having been through it I would be nervous of proceeding.

It depends how perfect it is for you as to if you can ignore this. If it’s the best property available, keep looking. If it’s your dream home then go for it.

Don't touch it if you're ever going to want to sell it. Despite the fact that a house that has had any sort of treatment is a better bet than an untreated house, subsidence is one of those words that turns everyone a bit mad. They are VERY difficult to sell. I speak from experience. We were totally uninformed when we bought our first property and the sale of it was one of the most stressful times of our life.

Since you’re wary of buying it, others will be too if you buy it and want to sell in the future.

Walk away and find a different house.

Too difficult to sell again, unless your getting it really really cheap I wouldn't.
You can adjust your offer at anytime prior to completion. I would be doing that - whilst preparing to find another property if they don't reduce to a price your comfortable with.
I'm assuming the offending tree was removed ?
In addition do take the comment someone made about insurance seriously. Subsidence cover will now only be available from the insurer who authorised the repair.

@Tortephant hi, well the building wasn’t affected so no underpinning required, it was the block paving next to the garage that was affected. Offending tree has now had root barriers fitted in. Out of curiosity, why would it be difficult to insure? I’ve had done a quick check on money supermarket and the quotes have come out quite cheap.. have I missed something? It asks any claims in the last 5 years, I ticked no as it’s over 5 years now. The bit about subsidence I did include in 2020 but quotes have come back as £400 a year. Did you manage to sell the property at the end? It would be a forever home for us I think or atleast for the next 15 years. Thank you for your thoughts.

@WhamBhamThankYouMham Oh gosh, really don’t want to hear this few days before exchange :( how bad was it selling and how much of a hit did you take? How long after the subsidence did you sell please? We would be staying in this house for atleast 15 years…

@DrySherry we got it for £15k under asking not really cheap. I didn’t think it was a massive issue to be honest as the building itself was not affected, it was the paving leading to the garage that started to have some lifting. The tree sits in the neighbours garden and has now had root barriers fitted. Building didn’t need underpinning as was not affected. Please elaborate on the insurance. Does that mean we can’t get insurance elsewhere now? Even though it’s been over 5 years? Thank you..

We bought my grandad's house that had had subsidence due to a tree 5 years prior. Tree removed and underpinning done then. We got it for around 10% below value. It's our forever home and we have been in it for 5 years now. Insurance is very expensive but been told by our specialist insurers it will come down after 10 years so only a year to go.
The offers you are receiving may change once the phone call happens- they will often offer without subsidence cover.

For us it was well worth it knowing like you we will be here long term and 20+ years following subsidence noone seems to bat an eyelid as insurance isn't affected. But we did get the house cheaper for this reason!

@Megang4 ours was a very serious situation, unlike yours so different parameters. Yes, we sold quite easily ( amazing location and masses of potential), we did choose an agent happy to be upfront with enquiries and so that filtered out anyone that wasn’t comfortable with the situation before viewing and we marketed and sold for a realistic price. Probably £100k less than without subsidence. It was quick and easy thanks to the agent handling it well and the buyer not being phased.

insurance: yes, be careful who you choose and read the small print. With your situation it’s probably not an issue but do double check everything. Also would this not be your neighbours insurance rather than yours? Ask your solicitor re now and future should anything occur or the neighbour sell and the new people not use the same insurer.

I am not familiar with tree root barriers at all, my quick google says 15-20year life. You may want to verify this and have a plan in place for them to get to the end of their life, particularly if that coincides with you selling.

@Tortephant youve made a good point. I never quite understood why it would be the vendors insurance who covered and not the neighbours. The tree is definitely in the neighbours garden, I’ll ask the question. Do you think it’ll be cheeky to knock on the neighbours door and ask about it? Don’t want to upset anyone but also need to know what I’m getting into. I may stay with the current insurers, the vendor sent me a copy of the current policy and it’s just over £1k which is ok I guess.

EA’s will tell you what you want to hear

My older brother had subsidence from trees on the border of his neighbours.
House was sorted and it looks as good as ever.
BUT his insurance company wouldn't renew at the end of the year.
He had to get specialist insurance which is 3x normal.
Last year's was £3k and that's the cheapest.
What it will cost this year who knows.

Walk away now.

I would. I’d also have thought it should be declared by the vendor. I don’t think it’s an issue now, more about it causing a problem in a few years time and what happens then.
also speak to your solicitor.

It's not the house that has been affected so it should be ok as you've had a survey. Just get insurance sorted out.

Thank you everyone xx

Ask the insurers to provide continuing insurance. They will normally say yes and depending on the rules at the time, may be obliged to. In your case it sounds like the root barriers have done the job and no sign of movement has been seen for five years which is a key number for many insurers.

People will buy a good house in a good location. Where I am, if you declined to look at houses previously underpinned or root barrier’d (or in roads where this was common) you would eliminate all the most popular roads in the area. In reality houses come on the market and are sold within days - even in the current climate. What matters is the insurance is in place and continuing.

I bought a house that had been underpinned, all sorted, insurance co continued to insure at standard rate, I had all the paperwork.

Sold it with no problems - passed on all the paperwork, new owners got insurance no problem.

Our structural engineer who did the survey said it was a better bet on London Clay to buy a house that has been underpinned than one that has not.

Not everyone goes into a frenzy at the mention of subsidence. You just need to know that it has been properly fixed.

I’ve just bought a house with a subsidence claim from last year. We had the certificate of structural adequacy and were able to obtain insurance on standard terms (Lloyd’s bank). It’s been totally fine. We also plan to live here very very long term.

Same as others, we live in an area with a high risk of subsidence. Prices have rocketed. Small terraces are over a million and a 4 bed will cost you £1.6m. Subsidence doesn’t bother everyone!

We had structural repairs carried out to our house 25 years ago. We sold it within a few days of putting it on the market and there have been no issues with the previous subsidence.

This was pretty much what we were advised by both our structural engineer and a relative who ran a sizeable building contractor. Check out the work and insurance but if all comes back good, you have a safer bet than an untreated house in the area.
In the years since we bought, many of the remaining non underpinned houses have been done. Houses still sell very rapidly because the houses are good and in a popular area and command a premium. (I’ve just watch one a few doors down change to “sold” after less than a week on the market).

Unless there’s nothing else or it’s dirt cheap then proceed with extreme caution…. If there were problems in 2020 I think it’s highly likely there were problems in 2025 too. Ask the surveyor to make a statement about the chances of problems with the house itself… if it was previously paving thats not as big a problem as if it’s the building

I'm not op biit am in a very similar situation (recent historic subsidence tevealed after we offered) . How much do you recommend reducing the price?

I'm not OP but I'm in a similar situation. If you don't mind me asking, how long did it take you to sell and how much of a hit did you take in the asking price?

We're still considering whether to lower our offer now we know about the subsidence or walk away.