We've recently made an offer just under 420k on a ready to live in 3 bed house that we really liked. This seems to be around what a property like that goes for in the area; some sell for as little as 400k, others seem to be on the market for 450k.
However some issues have come up since we offered, and we want to know how to respond reasonably.
The house has previously been treated for subsidence by the current owners - I think around 2021, and observed between 2021 and 2024 with no further concerns, and given a certificate of adequacy in 2025. However the underwriting company who provided it have only given a guarantee for 24 months. Would indemnity insurance be helpful here?
The subsidence was due to trees a couple of houses down the road, that now have a plan for regular trimming. However, as they have not been cut down, it may potentially recur in future.
The work on the home we hope to buy was only crack filling and redecoration, and this was actually not picked up on the survey! We got a structural engineer review that did not bring up any new concerns. The neighbors had it worse; there was some form of more intensive treatment on the 2 or 3 closest neighbors' homes on that side.
Our potential mortgage provider has said that they will be happy to give us a mortgage and their valuation remains unaffected as long as insurance is available on "standard terms". We aren't sure exactly what this means - we've found an insurer willing to provide insurance (that whilst pricey is similar to what we got before we knew about the subsidence). It sounds like they do cover houses with historic subsidence, including for future subsidence but there's a £1000 excess. Which seems reasonable, However they may be a specialist insurer - would this void the terms of the mortgage? Should we ask the mortgage provider to vet the terms of our insurance policy?
I've seen people suggest before that we can ask the seller's insurance company to transfer the policy to us or to take us on - has anyone here done that before?
To add do that, we've found out the central heating isn't working in the property. This wasn't mentioned in the advert or during viewings before we offered. Should we get them to hire someone to take a look at it before we go any further and hive us an estimateof how much it would take to fix? What is reasonable to ask?
The roof apparently needs some work, the mortar under the ridge tiles is cracked and some times may slip, so immediate repair was recommended, as well as other more major fixes that could be put off, like replacing the sarking. Whilst annoying, this seems par for the course for an older property (like possoblr asbestos), but some of the isssues are flagged as immediate - should this be added to any reduction we ask for?
In total it could take us up to 17k over a few years. But the engineer wasn't really concerned about the roof and suggested it would be fine to address this down the road.
Another issue is that the garden backs onto green land, and there is a plan for some work to be done on that land which would pernanently affect the view and noise level from the garden unfortunately. It won't be residential property and there's no guarantee that the work will go ahead, but this is still a deviation from what we expected that wasn't declared at the time.
With this in mind, we're having to really consider if this is still what we want. We do genuinely like the home a lot, and it may be a while before we find another property we like in the area. We need to upsize fairly soon due to starting a family and we worry that similar properties in the area are hitting the market for around 450k or more abd it could be a long time before we find something we like...which could also have similar issues.
I know a lot of advice may be to back out due to the subsidence. And that is good advice.
But I'd also love to hear... if we do go forward with the purchase, should we lower our offer to reflect these issues given they weren't known when we offered? How much would you suggest potentially reducing an offer? What could we do to minimise the risks if we did take it on? Any advice appreciated.
I've posted this on other property forums in the hope of getting an idea of whether we can minimise the risks or whether we should bail.