Effect of Underpinning on Resale Value

paul1964_2

I recently had an offer accepted on a property, but the survey came back showing that the property shows signs of movement and the seller has stated that this had been remedied by underpinning.

I have now seen documents that show that the underpinning works were designed and overseen by a structural engineer and were performed by a subsidence specialist. They were also passed by the Building Control department. This was around 5 years ago.

I am aware that insurance will be more expensive and that when I eventually come to resell the property, it will not be worth as much as it would if it had a “clean” history. If I had known about the issue, I doubt whether I would have even considered making an offer and am now very unsure as to whether to proceed with the purchase.

To help me make up my mind, does anyone have any idea/opinion as to what percentage effect (in general) subsidence/underpinning has on the value of a property. If I do proceed, I would obviously want the seller to reduce the price by at least this amount.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

happy35

in some areas loads of houses are underpinned, if this is the case it doesnt have an effect on the price as it is the norm

I would query this with your solicitor

paul1964_2

Have spoken to my solicitor (local firm) and he is unaware of any subsidence issues in the area.

richardw

Has the seller given an indication of how much they paid in building insurance recently?

paul1964_2

richardw wrote: »

Has the seller given an indication of how much they paid in building insurance recently?

Around £800 (£250k property).

shar46y

Nobody can say what effect it will have on the resale value for your particular property, I'm afraid.

We are in the process of buying a house which was underpinned almost 20 years ago. Seriously considered pulling out, but in the end we were reassured by discussions with our surveyor and the overseeing structural engineers. Also by many useful posts on MSE, some from people who have successfully bought and sold underpinned properties - in theory there should be no problem as long as everything was done properly and all the paperwork is in order, as seems to be the case for the house you describe.

In our case, the buildings insurance is only £270 pa, could be a reflection on how long ago the movement happened??

Will you be buying with a mortgage? If so, get together copies of all the paperwork and send it immediately with your mortgage application. The biggest holdup we have suffered is due to our building society not having a procedure in place to deal with it, and asking for documents very slowly, one at a time, losing them, telling us that they had enough information, then realising they didn't and could we send document X, etc... over several weeks.:mad:

Once they had all the information (plus a whole load of extra stuff we took the initiative to send without being asked), they reached a decision in a few days!

paul1964_2

shar46y wrote: »

We are in the process of buying a house which was underpinned almost 20 years ago. Seriously considered pulling out......

Thanks for all the good advice!

To be honest, I am quite reassured that the work has been done properly and I don't fear the building collapsing ar anything like that. The only nagging doubt is that future buyers would be put off (both you and I have seriously considered pulling out - I imagine others would feel the same) and the rule of supply and demand would take its natural course.

I was hoping there was a rule of thumb percentage that could be applied in such cases, but it looks like its a bit more complicated that that.