Home insurance for underpinned house

helping_hand_3

We are about to buy a property and are ver close to exchange of contracts.
We received the preliminary fiding on the property from the solicitors today and he has bought the following to our notice.

"Please note that as the owner has died, there is little information of use save we are told the garage was extended in 1975 and the property has been underpinned at some time. This is as much as the seller’s know and there are no available documents about either matter. I am not concerned about the extension as it is so old, but you will have to rely on your survey about the underpinning aspect."

What should we do now? We will pull out if the property has been underpinned But if there is no documents to confirm the same. then?
Would I be able to get home insurance without any documentation about the underpinning?

Advise Please

Thanks

dacouch

How long have the current owners owned the house for ?

Did they declare the underpinning to their Insurers ?

helping_hand_3

The current listed owner has died and the property is being sold by her Executors.
I have met the owner's son once whi is selling the property.
I have raised about theinsurance with the estate agent today and will be asking the solicitor to enquire about exsiting buildings insurance.
In the meanwhile I am seeking infiormation and advise on how to proceed

dacouch

Underpinning and House Insurance is a problem.

The normal way of handling it would be to take over the existing owners Insurance and should you ever sell the property the new owners take it over etc. This works providing the current owners Insurers had paid out on the claim which sounds unlikely and they had kept continuous cover, there is a very small chance that they had did not pay out on the claim but the current owner declared the under pinning to them. However it is not unusual for people not to declare the under pinning. The result is often subsequent subsidence claims are declined by the Insurer and / or when they sell the house there are problems selling the house when the solicitor discovers it.

Another option is to use an Insurer who offer a scheme for under pinned properties, they will normally require to perform a survey of the house for which you will pay probably £200, this amount is normally refunded to you if they decline to offer cover. From the survey the Insurer will calculate what premium they want to charge and any additional terms they want to apply to the cover. They will sometimes increase the excess for subsidence claims. Be prepared for them to require a survey of the properties drains and any work that is flagged up to be carried out (They will allow a reasonable time scale for this but it can often cost £300+ for the survey and then any work on top). They may also require for trees they consider to be a risk to have work carried out on them or to be removed. Bear in mind that these types of policy are always more expensive than you would pay for a non under pinned property, I would guess you will be paying circa £200 a year more than you would had the property not been underpinned.

Here is a company you could try http://www.bureauinsure.co.uk/subsidence.html It might be worth you giving them a quick call (They may be open in the morning). They are very friendly and know there stuff, they will be able to talk you through the whole situation not just their cover, which you may find helpful.

It would also be best for you to have a good chat with your solicitor, generally with properties that have been underpinned a discount is negotiated off the selling price to take into account the extra aggravation of the underpinning and that when you sell the house the future buyers will want a discount.

helping_hand_3

Thats a very useful insight, what would you do if you were in my position......

dacouch

A) Discuss the matter with your solicitor as they will have dealt with similar situations
Discuss the matter with Bureau Insurance
C) Find out more information from the seller eg did their Insurer pay out on the claim etc
D) If I went ahead I would be looking at a discount off the purchase price, which is something your solicitor may be able to advise you on.

helping_hand_3

Thanks dacouch

helping_hand_3

All,


I have been reading about this all evening yesterday. I have now discovered in the local council an application for the house for underpinning of the garage. I will call the council on Monday to get furtehr details and confirm if it was just the garage or the house as well.

The house has 2 garages one an integral garage, the second is an side extension but it is not amalgamated with the house it has a passage between the house and this garage and the entrance/exit to the garage is independent to that of the house.

In the event that only the garage had been underpinned and not the house will I still have problems getting insurance?

Thanks for your help. I will stay in touch with further information

huckster

Underpinned does not necessarilly = subsidence.

It could just be that at the time they had work done, the foundations to the garage were found to be inadequate and underpinning was decided as being needed. Where a second floor is added above an existing single attached garage, the builders will check the foundations to see if adequate. They will often use underpinning if the foundations are not adequate to take the extra load of the second floor.

Wait to see what the council say. The plans submitted re the building works might provide answers.

Also important is to get a full survey.

If there is no mention regarding subsidence, unless you are asked by Insurers about underpinning, you don't have to mention. You don't want to arrange more expensive cover with a niche Insurance scheme if you don't have to.

helping_hand_3

After several sleepless nights I have some update
Monday morning I made the following calls
1. Council : confirms that the 2nd garage has been underpinned. This was due to some drianing problem and not subidence. Howvere a completion certificate has not bee issued and that needs a building inspeactor to do so.
On mentioning this to the vendor he is following this up
2. Surveyor : Confirms there is no sign of subsidence in the house or any movemnt, it doesnt require a structural survey as there are no indications to any problems
3. Estate agent : following up with the vendor and confirmed to get copy of the insurance etc.

AFter all this we went to the property again today with the surveyor and he reckons nothing is wrong. howvere since work has been carried out and that its is now part of the history of the house, we should get some price reduced.

What should we do?

huckster

So this is no longer really a House Insurance issue, as there is no subsidence to disclose. It is just that the 2nd garage had a problem with the foundations and had to be underpinned. House Insurance does not cover any building defects, only liability to third parties.

Take your solicitors advice about the issues you face about the completions certificate and problems you may face, particularly if you ever had to sell the house.

I know locally a property with an underpinned garage, which actually was due to subsidence, was sold at about £20k less than another without the problem. The discount in the particular case was about 8% of the properties value, but it would vary. It is therefore essential that you consider the impact when negotiating the discount. Your mortgage company would also have an interest in this issue.