purchasig underpinned house questions

croboy

Hi,

We are purchasing a house that the vendor has disclosed was underpinned in 1993. Unfortunately he has no paperwork/guarantees as its his deceased parents house but he remembers it being done (as do neigbours!) as they had to move to a hotel. We have had a basic survey done that says the house has moved in the past but is stable now and a builder has confirmed that the house is 100% stable with no cracks/movement.

The mortgage is fine and approved but we are worried about resale value and insurance costs. Also the local council have no record of the underpinning so it never went through building control.

My questions are:

1. How much discount off agreed price would you seek in light of this?
2. If there is no records with council and house shows no signs of movement would a full structural survey tell us why it was underpinned/has it been done properly?
3. Would we need to disclose underpinning in future and can you 'tell' a house has been underpinned if you are a surveyor? (our basic survey didnt show it up!)

G_M

We have had a basic survey done that says the house has moved in the past but is stable now .....our basic survey didnt show it up!)

?? Insurance will always be more expensive, with fewer companies available. Resale will raise the exact same questions you are raising.

chou-chou

We bought an underpinned house in 2007 - only difference is that our sellers weren't up front at the start and it caused a lot of problems towards the end of the process.

We calculated the additional cost of buildings insurance (we pay £40 per month on a 3 bed end terrace to Towergate Strovers) and used that to negotiate a £2500 reduction.

I would say the underpinning may put a few people off but there are planty more out there (like you and me) who don't see it as a major issue. It would be good to understand why it was underpinned in the first place (ours was tree roots) as you can then reassure any potential buyers that the issue has been resolved. Basically if it was done in 1993 and no movement since it's pretty stable!

We do have a guarantee for the work that was done on our house (in 2000) but it's only valid for 10 years so I suspect yours would be long out of date by now even if you had it.

croboy

Yeh, Towergate seem to be the best for underpinned houses and we're trying to negotiate that the seller gets full survey done and makes a reduction to account for increased premiums.

FTB2009

You should approach the exisiting Buildings Insurer for the property, they should be able to cover you and hopefully they will have full details of the claim if it was made against them. No new insurer will even consider offering subs cover without a full structural survey showing the condition of the property and chance of any further issues. You will also need to disclose previous damage when applying for insurance or selling the property.

samhuzz

The vendor should have applied for building regs and should have a completion certificate for the works.

croboy

Checked with local council and they have no building regs associated with the underpinning! This means they haven't certified the work.