Would you proceed with a house purchase after historic subsidence?

[Subsidenceissue]

We have just received the TA6 form for the house we are buying and it states there was subsidence almost 25 years ago on one wall by a drain. It says work was undertaken and issues fully repaired and a full report is available. Our surveyor is undertaking our survey this week so we will flag but should we just walk away. The whole area is clay so subsidence is more likely but really disappointed we were not told before offering.
This would be our forever home so the plan would be to to live there at least 30 years so when we came to sell (assuming no further issues) the subsidence issue would be over 50 years old.
What would you do?

Insurance will be nearly impossible, or extremely expensive. Some mortgage companies won’t lend if there has been subsidence. For all these reasons, I would walk away I think.

It wouldn’t bother me, there was a problem, it was fixed. End of, unless your surveyor finds anything more recent.

Wouldn't bother me either. Just check insurance premiums, find out current insurers. Half the country is on clay.

The issue is often the insurance premiums

There's an opportunity here to renegotiate. The seller is probably expecting you to reduce your offer. I certainly would be.

Not true - and with such historic subsidence it’s not a live issue now
clay soil is known for this - it’s not a deal breaker by any means

It is though because it does spook buyers, insurance premiums are higher.

My husband works in subsidence and wouldn’t be spooked by this. It has been repaired and presumably no more movement for 25 years? He suggests you could get a specialist drain survey and check they are still in decent repair. Cracking caused by a damaged drain is quite common.

We had offered on a house which we then found had historic subsidence which had apparently been fixed and from an extension and the drains had caused it.
We took our offer off the table as the sellers also said they’d accept our offer but wouldn’t accept any reductions after survey, which immediately put on us edge about what else would come up!

No issue I bought with historic subsidence, yes the insurance is a bit more but the sellers insurance have to cover you so it’s not like you cannot be insured. It was a long time ago and has been fixed. The whole area is probably clay and so better to buy somewhere fixed…!

Our insurance cost was not higher, but there was a higher excess (£1k) for any subsidence claim.

Insurance will not be ‘nearly impossible’.

The current insurers will insure it for starters.

Half London has had some clay related movement and somehow property gets insured.

Our house had had treatment following tree root related subsidence. The surveyor said it would be a safer bet, having had strengthening works, than any house in our (v popular) road that had not.

The people who tell you it’s fine always have a house with subsidence…

Surely that’s because those people know it has been fine? Not much use someone who has no experience of the situation (and no knowledge) telling you anything. As evidenced by the person telling you it’s impossible to get insurance!

We have had a house with historic subsidence in the past (not any more), we got insurance fine but if I recall there might have been a higher excess on subsidence claims.

Yes because they have lived experience of it being fine!
I have a house with historic subsidence. The issues were fixed and a report confirming this. I live in a part of London where it's all built on London clay. So it's not unusual.
I would say that getting house insurance is slightly harder, you need to co tact a broker rather than the online search platforms and the excess is higher for subsidence specifically. However as the work was done you have arguably less risk of actual subsidence problems.
If you plan to live in this house for a long time then I'd say go for it.

I was talking in regards to insurance, it can be harder & there can be higher excesses. I know because a family member had it.

I agree that in theory the house is “better” now but insurance doesn’t work like that.

Yes as have lived experience and have actually dealt with the insurance… it’s really not a big deal if it has been sorted out. In many parts of the country there is clay soil so it’s quite a common thing.

We had a house on my parents' street that had subsidence issues in the late 80s. The family moved out temporarily and builders dug out sand for a considerable depth under the house and pumped concrete in and then re-seated the house. I have kept going back to the area until last year, when my father died, and there's never been any evidence of more problems or more work being needed. Clearly not guaranteeing you'll be fine, but that's my experience.

we had this and we went ahead, partly because it was the height of house price madness 10 years ago and we wouldn’t have found another house, partly because on this road many houses are underpinned and it’s better to be in one with a ton of concrete underneath than in one that’s about to need underpinning. We had to stick with the insurer who did the work initially but by now it’s so historical no one seems to care and we can get insurance from pretty much anywhere for a normal price. I think the subsidence on ours happened 20 years before we bought it. The builder who did our extension said from what he had seen it was done really well and was unlikely to shift again and I’ve never really thought about it twice since we moved in.

We are also on clay here and on a hill with large area of woodland. Edwardian foundations just were not adequate and many of the houses have had underpinning. Those that haven’t are probably being held up by those that have. But they still sell for >800K which for this area means the value is unaffected

£1000 is a standard excess for subsidence regardless off the history of the property.

A lot of the area I live is is built on clay so many houses have had historic subsidence, including mine.
I can get buildings insurance which is no more expensive than my previous comparable house.

assuming the issue has been fixed, what is the problem. If underpinned it won’t get subsidence there again and of course it’s insurable! If it’s not underpinned, be a bit more careful but a survey will tell you (or should!)

25 years ago is not a problem as long as no recent issues. That underpinning is older than some mumsnetters now!
Would be problem if it was 2.5 years ago for me.