Underpinned house - something to worry about or not?

davilown

We've just had an offer accepted on a house and the EA phone this am to let us know. At the same time, the vendor asked the ea to let us know that the house was underpinned in 1994:eek:, along with all the other house in the street. The underpinning has 3 years left of warranty.

Very grateful for the vendor to advise of this before surveys expense etc begin.

Do I need to worry about this or not?

Any advice gratefully appreciated

G_M

At the very least it will exclude you from many insurers (most ask if there has ever been......) so you'll end up with less choice and higher premiums.

Structurally I imagine if it's been OK since 1994, it's probobly OK now. But what caused the need for underpinning?

A structural engineers report might be worth paying for.

shar46y

Get a full structural survey.

Get a structural engineer to report.

Your mortgage provider may not take it too well, so you may have problems getting a mortgage.

Insurance may or may not be a problem. Certainly you will be excluded from "standard" providers, but premiums from a specialist provider may not necessarily be higher. When we bought this house, we carried on with the same insurer as the vendors and the premium (combined buildings and contents) actually worked out lower than what we were paying previously for our tiny old maisonette in London.

You may well spend the rest of your life peering nervously at every crack in the plaster :eek:

davilown

Thanks to you both - underpinned because of the trees behind the houses, all of which have TPOs.

I think I'd be right in saying that this will have to be addressed again in the future so have withdrawn my offer.

Grateful to vendor for letting me know before we spent any money.

cooltt

If underpinning is done correctly it's no different to having solid foundations.

dacouch

shar46y wrote: »

Get a full structural survey.

Get a structural engineer to report.

Your mortgage provider may not take it too well, so you may have problems getting a mortgage.

Insurance may or may not be a problem. Certainly you will be excluded from "standard" providers, but premiums from a specialist provider may not necessarily be higher. When we bought this house, we carried on with the same insurer as the vendors and the premium (combined buildings and contents) actually worked out lower than what we were paying previously for our tiny old maisonette in London.

You may well spend the rest of your life peering nervously at every crack in the plaster :eek:

Specialist Subsidence / Underpinned Insurance Policies are always more expensive, are often with obscure Insurers and will often contain higher excesses for subsidence etc

dacouch

cooltt wrote: »

If underpinning is done correctly it's no different to having solid foundations.

If the house the OP is buying was underpinned due to trees it could be only underpinned on only part of the house. This can sometimes cause problems in the future as one part of the house is stronger than the other so the non underpinned part can be more prone to be affected by things that cause subsidence

cooltt

dacouch wrote: »

If the house the OP is buying was underpinned due to trees it could be only underpinned on only part of the house. This can sometimes cause problems in the future as one part of the house is stronger than the other so the non underpinned part can be more prone to be affected by things that cause subsidence

Yes i thought said that, "if it has been done correctly". Hello!

dacouch

cooltt wrote: »

Yes i thought said that, "if it has been done correctly". Hello!

Sorry I should have made it clear that I was not having a go at you rather pointing out to the OP there is a difference between the whole house being underpinned and only part of it.