The house we like to buy has been underpinned need some urgent advice please!

zooloo

After looking for a month or so my husband and I finally found a house we like. It is not 100% perfect but as close as we can get
Compared to others.

After our valuation we learned the house had previously suffered from subsidence. And when I did speak to the home owner before she did mention the house had been underpinned. At that time
I thought that underpinning was a good thing.

After phoning around insurance companies I found out the only people who will insure us would be More Than who currently insure the existing home owners.

At first I thought ok at least I can get insured but more and more people are advising me not to touch the house because of it's underpinning history. I'm not sure what to do now?! People are saying we will be T the mercy of insurers when they raise their premiums and the house will be difficult to resell.

The valuation of the house came in at £300k and we had offered £300k prior to valuation. Do you think we can ask to reduce the price?
When I asked the estate agent he said well we can't really ask to reduce the price as the valuation of the property came back at £300k which also took into regard the underpinning and previous subsidence.

I really need some advice as soon as possible please. Can someone please help?

kiddy_guy

Couple of options then.

If the underpinning has been done to a satisfactory level then it should not really be an issue. You could probably do with asking for more details of this and see if you can throw them under the nose of a industry professional.

Get a structural surveyor/engineer to have a look (£300-400).

Pull out.

Personally if you aren't 100% happy and have a gut feel it's going to be more hassle than it's worth, you're the person who has to live with it in the long term.

zooloo

Would also like to mention that the surveyor has said that chances of the subsidence happening again are remote. Also the couple who own the property at the moment do not have any paper work or structural report to support the underpinnig that has been done as they said it was done before they moved in.

vax2002

I bet they can not believe there luck £300,000 for a underpinned house with no engineers report as to why it required underpinning , really ? and you think it is worth that ?
I would try and find out what they paid for it.
One word.....Walk.

shar46y

zooloo wrote: »

Would also like to mention that the surveyor has said that chances of the subsidence happening again are remote. Also the couple who own the property at the moment do not have any paper work or structural report to support the underpinnig that has been done as they said it was done before they moved in.

No paperwork? I would walk. It seems suspicious.

We have bought an underpinned house :eek: (and in keeping with the general advice on this forum we should probably have walked) - but we have full documentation for the house including a brand new certificate of structural adequacy fully inspected by the structural engineers, building control etc. Wouldn't have bought without the paperwork.

With all this, didn't have problems obtaining insurance albeit via more specialist insurers (and of course at a price). Try Adrian Flux.

LydiaJ

A month is not really all that long to have been looking. There will be other houses. It's not as if you said you really love this one.

FireWyrm

Ack, its not what you think of the house in this case, it's what the insurers will think. If you can't insure it, you'll have the devils own job selling it. More to the point, does the mortgage valuation come up to scratch because if you get repossessed the mortgage company will come to you for the difference in price. Nope, old is ok, needing work is ok, major structural issues is not...run, don't walk. There are plenty more fish in the sea. The lack of paperwork is just the icing on the cake, I think you've had a lucky escape.

zooloo

Just thinking about it we have actually been looking for longer than a month. I think maybe three months now. I know it is not long for looking but it is just annoying that out of all the houses this was the best one and actually suited our needs. It is near a tube station (I hate long walks back) and it does not need any immediate work done in the house it is quite modern. It is not a typical 1930's house it was built in the 1900s.....It is so upsetting

The thing is as I said the insurance for now is not an issue. As we can get insurance with More Than who have insured the property since the issues began so I think they are obligated to keep insuring the property. The issue is the stigma attached to the property for resale and the fact that we would be at the mercy of the insurance company when they increase their price.

The valuation that has been done is by our bank who are providing the mortgage i.e. their valuer. They valued it at £300k

So going back to my original question how do I propose asking for a discount if the valuation from the bank said £300k? I was thinking to ask for 5% discount subject to there being no more issues outlined by a structural engineering survery?

jc808

vax2002 wrote: »

I bet they can not believe there luck £300,000 for a underpinned house with no engineers report as to why it required underpinning , really ? and you think it is worth that ?
I would try and find out what they paid for it.
One word.....Walk.

100% agreed - I was looking at buying an underpinned house, vendor said 'oh yeah the paperworks in the loft it was done before we moved in' - I asked to see this. Loads of fees in travel to viewings, survey and Solicitors fees, demanded (After much fing around) the report

'Oh sorry we cant find it...'

Timewasters.

scrappee

It sounds as though you really want the house despite what everyone is saying…

If you are having a structural survey and that comes up fine I would trust that there isn't a problem with the house. As for asking for a discount why are you trying to find a reason to ask? Be honest say that you love the house however, there maybe issues with insurance and reselling in the future and therefore would like to offer *** to help cover future costs - it's the truth isn't it and the sellers must know that they will have these issues and hopefully be co-operative. What's that people say - you don't get if you don't ask...

zooloo

I know I think I really do like the house. But at the same time I really don't want to be stupid.

As we are in a chain and our sale is going through too, I think I am going to advise the estate agent that we are still undecided and need to think about it a bit more. He can than also tell the current owners. I feel bad as they are really nice people and I feel like I am messing them around.