My FTB's. house is sinking!

savealotnot

Just about to buy my first house with my v/ long term girlfriend. Found out a bit later on they had some subsidence work done back 03, (seller didn't disclose this),should of asked from the start but the house was in very good shape visually.( Built 07, Terraced 2 bed). Aparently it has stopped moving last year..so they say. They have no proper Structural engineers reports on work done, no guarantee ect. My solicitor did manage to find out that the work lasted 6 months (on/off) and every wall in the house showed movement. No underpinnind was done because they would have to have done the whole terrace. I'm pulling out and gonna lose 1K in overall fees..make me feel better...have i done the right thing?

WSO

You have done the right thing!

We were waiting to complete on our first choice of house back in Nov 2004 when our solicitor warned us that some underpinning on the "extension" of the terrace was not guaranteed. The vendor wanted a quick sale so did not want to get the certificates retrospectively and offer an indemnity policy. Our surveyor said that if he had known about the underpinning at the time of the survey he would have advised us to steer clear of it and this comment was passed onto our bank so they would have declined the drawdown if we hadn't pulled out anyway.

We only lost the surveyors fee of around £350 - but since the surveyor and solicitor helped us detach our head from our hearts (I had moved in since offer was accepted 2 month earlier) we had no hesitation in going to them for the second property.

It was a hard decision, but a fortunate twist of events as our previous preparations allowed us to buy our home (which was cheaper and in much better condition) very quickly - only 8 week from viewing it we were in, despite the offices being shut over christmas!

Some things happen for a reason - I hope you too find a better property as it does help to justify any guilt/doubt you are feeling now.

clutton_2

i suspect you have done the right thing - how do "they" know it stopped moving last year ? that was only 6 months ago !! Who are "they" ? Without any documentary evidence for all this, and structual surveyors reports on the whole process, you will have Such a difficult time selling it on.

There will be another house very soon

Careful_girl

You won't be able to sell it if it has ever had subsidence (well without a fight, Magnolia paint won't work) Watch it move fom afar and we'll save you lots of money to repay your loss.

clutton_2

if there has been no further trouble for 10 years after the subsidence work was done and certificated, then insurers will have no problem with it, so there should not be too many problems selling.

v0n

Careful_girl wrote:

You won't be able to sell it if it has ever had subsidence .

If that were true most houses in south east would never change hands...

The problem is.. there is no requirement for the insurance companies to provide any paperwork, and they happily take advantage of this situation, mainly because in serious cases structural engineers usually advise fixing the cause of subsidence not the effects, and that's almost never done due to costs. And then what scares buyers away is the lack of written history. And it's a pity because in most cases, once fixed, the subsidence is no longer issue....

WSO

We were prepared to take on the first house we looked at despite it being underpinned (like you say v0n if the cause is fixed then there should be no more effects). We had documentation saying that it had been underpinned as it had been mentioned as an issue that had been "fixed" in the redevelopment report done by a surveyor when the house had an overhaul around 6 years earlier.

The problem in our case was the fact that we didn't know who it was that underpinned it (we are friends with the owner of the house that was next to it and she suggested it could have been a DIY job!) - whoever did it didn't provide all the paperwork needed to satisfy the solicitor it was a council approved/registered repair (legal requirement IIRC) and so the request was made to get a certificate retrospectively. Since getting the cert retrospectively would mean exposing the work to inspect it the seller opted to offer an indemnity insurance policy which could have caused problems for us later down the line if we chose to do structural changes (it would have paid out for certification if council "discovered" it was underpinned, but not if we told them [Council] it was).

So I would like to add that written history is not necessarily enough when it comes to structural changes that need any kind of certification - ensure you have/see the appropriate certification from the council if you want to minimise problems with buying/selling... at least then you have some assurance that the repairs were seen and approved by someone so have someone to blame/sue if things go wrong down the line.

Careful_girl

There may be ways around it (I bought a cottage with subsidence but we had it checked and it was built in 1658) however my point is that it certainly is not an advert for selling a house something a FTB should be advised of. Everyone knows I buy houses and slosh magnoilia paint at them and double the interest and you have all been dubious which I can understand. However to buy a house with a known structural problem should be advised against unless absolutely necessary. Selling houses is about getting people through the door and ticking the boxes so you are paid a good price for your property.

savealotnot

Thanks very much for your help,....they got the bad news today! Shame really,it was a really nice terraced house.
Would the new home sellers pack prevent this sort of thing happening to FTB's?

Jorgan_2

HIPs would put all this information up front for a purchaser to see. You would then be able to make an informed decision as to whether you wanted to take things further.

madfrenchgirl

HIPs wont contain structural surveys nor searches... they will be next to useless...