Subsidence- advice please!

dottiepeas

Caz3121 wrote: »

I would imagine it would need to be revalued, what deposit do you have?

Hi Caz, we have a 60k deposit and 40% on mortgage. So not too bad...the agreed price before subsidence was discovered was £162k. Currently accordingly to the bank it's valued at £100k. Though on their valuation report, it does say the property was worth £162k if the repair work was done.

dottiepeas

pookienoodle wrote: »

How much do you really want this house?
we bought a house with historical(not ongoing) subsidence and it was a nightmare when we came to sell,buyers run a mile at the mere mention of subsidence on a survey.
the second house we bought developed cracks and had suspected subsidence,it took our insurance company 3 years of testing and monitoring to decide there was no problem.......you may have a long wait if it is being done by the insurance company.

Thanks PookieNoodle- We would really like this house- only for the fact it is much cheaper than other houses around but it's also in a good area, but we did think about the complications of selling on afterwards, but as the house is located on a nice street in a good area, we thought that might give some extra value to the house? Houses sell really quickly in this road/area...and there is no known subsidence on this road/area- so it's basically just this house? Maybe that's not such a good thing that it's just this house??

Also- when we come to sell (which will be a long while away!!!) How can the buyers find out the house had abit of subsidence? Is it recorded on history somewhere? If the problem has been fixed, how would the surveyor know it had some minor subsidence? Obviously, we would be honest about having had some repair work done!!- but wasn't sure if the minor subsidence is recorded somewhere?....

dottiepeas

Hi Typeractive! Thanks for your response!
Yes, the house is vacant which will speed things up abit...though not sure how long it will take for the vendor's side to organise the insurance and do the repair work! Since the vendor has passed away, and it's been looked after by the sister!

Will defo give the bank a ring to let them know the vendor's insurance may accept liability to repair it, and see what the process would be then.

The valuation said it would be worth the £162k that we agreed on. (once the work has been carried out- currently valued at £100k)...so the valuation is the same as the offer price.

But the EA said that we are not expected to pay £162k now, so we have to re-negotiate the price with the vendor. (For time and inconvenience etc..) so I think we are more likely to pay £140k/£150k instead.

I'm just really worried about the time factor, as our mortgage offer runs out end of Oct, and I reallly hope they can get it repaired by then!!

mahoney

Dottie peas, can I ask which bank highlighted the subsidence?
Thanks.

chewmylegoff

pookienoodle wrote: »

,it took our insurance company 3 years of testing and monitoring to decide there was no problem.......you may have a long wait if it is being done by the insurance company.

same with me - 3 years from start to finish of the claim. no way a subsidence claim is getting resolved in quick order.

Richard_Webster

I really would walk away because it will take quite a time to get the claim resolved and you do not really want to be committed to buy the place until it has been resolved.

Sometimes insurance companies want to "monitor" the position for a period and will not sign off the claim for sometime after they have done work, or will not to do the work until they have "monitored" for some months or more.

Cissi

dottiepeas wrote: »

Also- when we come to sell (which will be a long while away!!!) How can the buyers find out the house had abit of subsidence? Is it recorded on history somewhere? If the problem has been fixed, how would the surveyor know it had some minor subsidence? Obviously, we would be honest about having had some repair work done!!- but wasn't sure if the minor subsidence is recorded somewhere?....

No, as far as I know it isn't recorded anywhere, but you'll be asked if you'd ever had any work done in connection with subsidence, and as soon as you answer "yes" most buyers will run a mile. More immediately though, it will also be a nightmare to find someone who will insure the house for you and could be very expensive. If you do decide to go ahead then I strongly suggest you get quotes for insurance right away.

beaujolais-nouveau

dottiepeas wrote: »

not sure how long it will take for the vendor's side to organise the insurance and do the repair work! ... I'm just really worried about the time factor, as our mortgage offer runs out end of Oct, and I reallly hope they can get it repaired by then!!

Subsidence takes 18 months or more to repair - ie to get to the point where it is signed off. Anyone who tells you differently is talking through their proverbial. The process is

1. Structural engineer inspection and report commissioned.
2. Claim to insurance company completed and submitted with structural engineer's
report.
3. Insurance company send out their loss adjuster to inspect and report, at
which point the loss adjuster may exclude some of the claim.
4. Structural engineer place studs alongside all the cracks and monitor
movement for a year at least.
5. Either structural engineer or loss adjuster may say CCTV drain survey is
necessary; if so arrange drain survey and and report.
6. Draw up schedule of works and obtain three quotes.
7. Choose winning contractor and set date for start of work which will be
after the drain survey (if there was one); contractor may not be able to start
straight away, due to other work on hand.
8. Subsidence work (and superstructure repair) starts and takes perhaps four
weeks.

This is all from personal experience.

beaujolais-nouveau

Cissi wrote: »

No, as far as I know it isn't recorded anywhere, but you'll be asked if you'd ever had any work done in connection with subsidence, and as soon as you answer "yes" most buyers will run a mile. More immediately though, it will also be a nightmare to find someone who will insure the house for you and could be very expensive. If you do decide to go ahead then I strongly suggest you get quotes for insurance right away.

There are very few insurers who will cover buildings with recent history of subsidence, and the OP needs to be aware of the difference between underpinning and other kinds of subsidence repair. In my experience, the only sort of buildings insurance the OP may obtain is a policy that is conditional upon a drains survey being carried out in the first three months of the policy, and if the insurer doesn't find the drain survey report satisfactory they can restrict the cover/introduce new exclusions. So they have your business and your money, and you have "insurance cover" that barely covers anything. Walk away.

imfedup

Having worked in the insurance industry dealing with subsidence claims I can confirm that this will take anything from 6 months to 3 yrs plus to get fixed via the insurance company. 6 months if no monitoring is required and it gets sorted straight away which with most companies is highley unlikely. Firstly they will have to investigate why there is subsidence on this property if there is none known in that area, once they have found this out they will need to "remove" the problem. Then a schedule for the repairs needs to be drawn up and approved and contractors may need to quote if this goes to tender or if the Insurance Company involve one builder they will have to programme the works in.

Thats the easy part, the hard part is when you come to Insure it, now and in the future. Go on to one of the comparison sites and get a quote, one without having a subsidence claim and one having s subsidence claim.

I cant remember how many times people would phone me to ask why their premiums had gone up so much following a claim. You can only usually stay with the same insurer and if you are buying the house following then you may have to go with the current insurer but thats not always the case.

I know you love this property but I think you need to cut your losses and find another property with less hassle.

Good luck.