Buying a property, advice needed!

FDK

Hi there. I'm looking at buying a property and a number of issues have come to light with it. There is a mine adit within 20m of the property, it seems to run through the back garden and is of unknown age, depth and has had an unknown treatment from the date it was abandoned (also unknown). The mining interpretive report says the chances of movement are very small and the property is ~1910 with no sign of subsidence at all, although the whole place has been redecorated in the 3 years the current owner has been there.
What I find another puzzle to this is the apparent location of the opening to this adit. To be on the mining survey report the adit opening must be within 20m of the property and the diagram show it to be located next door. This confuses me as it must be underground in this case, which doesn't make sense to me. I have searched the internet and not found that much information but it seems adits are slightly sloping shafts that are used as walkways in or to allow water flow out of shafts. If the age, depth, size, date of abandonment and treatment are all unknown, how can the be sure that there will be no movement? Where is the opening for the adit? Why is it gone? Surely it must be close to the surface?

Added to this there is a loft conversion that it apparently >25 years old. There is no building completion certificate for this work and, as I've found from searching, it appears it cannot be provided retrospectively if the work was pre 11 November 1985.

I am a FTB and have very little experience in these matters. The area is one where coal mining is known to have occurred but no one else I know has been involved in purchasing with an shaft/adit is highlighted on the report so I am wary. It took the bank several weeks to decide whether or not to lend based on this adit etc and this has also got me concerned about the future.

Can anyone give me any information they may find salient? Could I, say, just be overplaying this mine adit due to my inexperience and it be more common than I think?

I am also in the process of obtaining other professional advice at the moment but am wary of dragging things on given the delays we've had already here. I do not want to antagonise the seller but at the same time do not want to get involved with a lemon and have already invested time and money into other surveys on the property.

Any thoughts on this greatly appreciated.

g_attrill

Have you had a good look around the area? Perhaps ask neigbours immediately bordering the garden, hopefully somebody will be old enough to tell you what it's all about.

Otherwise, I think you would need some kind of mining report (£££ special surveying equipment?). I myself would be concerned that it might have been capped and could collapse in the future.

FDK

Thanks for that. Would to be fair to say that lack of a building completions certificate is quite common in the older conversions? Anyone else out there got experience of having a mine adit within 20m of the property?

clutton_2

contact the local history society they may know when the mine closed -

i own several properties in mining areas, and as long as the Lender is satisfied, (and you did say that they did extensive research) then i would not have any qualms about buying.

re loft conversion - it seems to have stood the test of time - 25 years - ... so is probably qiute safe -

marcg

Loft conversions are a very well discussed subject on these forums but your bulletpoints are:

- no certificate can mean reduced value in the event of an insurance claim (say roof fails and water everywhere then only paid out on basis of loft storage, not carpetted bedroom)

- check floor depth: often loft rooms (as opposed to proper conversions) are merely the ceiling joists boarded over - 3 inches of timber rather than 8 deep. Not strong enough to support bath or double bed or heavy wardrobe etc
Even if the floor seems deep enough it may not be properly built - I have seen some loft floors built from 3" timbers suspended over ceiling joists!

- value of house should not be the same as similar house with similar floor area but all legal. The loft room has some value, more than storage, but not as much as a certified bedroom.

There is no chance of getting retrospective building regs without pulling the construction apart and even then very unlikely so forget it.

I know nothing about mines.

FDK

Firstly thanks for the replies.

I know it has taken some time to get a decision from the lender but this was due to issues with the Mine Interpretive Report getting to the lender's surveyor and the general time of year. It seems to me that some of the professionals involved here aren't entirely professional to my standards and this makes things even more cloudy than they need to be. I cannot be sure what exactly the surveyor has done; whether it is just poor communication or whether he has been more in depth with his research to lead him to make the decision.

I like the house but I don't like the delays that have happened to date. It has taken 6 weeks+ to get to this stage and this seems OTT. I suppose I need to balance up how much I like the property against the probability of a repeat performance if/when I come to sell. FTB'ers like myself find all this garb confusing and intimidating and with the house being suited to a FTB'er maybe this isn't the best proposition for a house to sell in the near future.

Once again, thanks for replies to date. If anyone has anything else to throw in, please do so.

Lews

Same thing happening to me at the moment with the mine thing. Taking absolutely ages - since begining of oct 09