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

clutton_2

costs of additional paperwork and surveys are always up for negotiation...... its no ones "place" to pay for a survey.... but if a vendor does not want to fund one, you might ask if he REALLY wants to sell......

The insurers would know what the cause of the underpinning was.... so would the neighbours as they would have been very worried about their own properties

matthorp

Do they not have the paperwork from when they bought the house. It would have been flagged in their conveyancing if the previous owners had the work done. Ask them if they were provided with a certificate when they bought the house.

I'm sure that they must have been given something?

geoffky

OH BOY..you are in a tight spot...remember you are the one who is buying and hold the pound notes so you owe no one when it comes to what you do with it..walk away if you have to...good luck..

zooloo

Just heard back from my estate agent and he said that the vendor will not consider dropping the price by £10k and also will not pay for a structural engineering survey. They do not have any paper work or certificates as when they bought the property they were satisfied with whatever information they were told about the underpinning. They have loved in the property for over 11 years and they have had no problems.

In either case they said they will look into getting indementiy insurance for their house which insures the property for any subsindence for upto 25 years in the future.

When I pushed again about price reduction the estate agent said well the valuation from the banks survey came back saying the property is worth £300k and the chances of subsidence are remote so they don't think they should reduce the price. How should I counter their argument? I still think they should reduce the price.

Yorkie1

When push comes to shove, it doesn't really matter what you think they should do. They have said they're not going to reduce the price because the informed valuation has come back saying it's an appropriate price.

They have offered an indemnity insurance policy - ask your solicitor exactly what this would cover and whether it would overlap with any standard insurance policies.

Then the ball really is in your court. You can either pay for your own structural surveyor (you aren't just relying on the lender's valuation, are you?) or do without. You can ask the EA if the sellers are at the very least prepared to obtain the historical paperwork / reports relating to the subsidence claim so you can make an informed decision (if they won't do that then they need to be better advised).

Then you can choose to walk away or not. But unfortunately you can't force the seller to drop the price if they don't want to.

shar46y

zooloo wrote: »

Just heard back from my estate agent and he said that the vendor will not consider dropping the price by £10k and also will not pay for a structural engineering survey. They do not have any paper work or certificates as when they bought the property they were satisfied with whatever information they were told about the underpinning. They have loved in the property for over 11 years and they have had no problems.

I just can't believe this. If I had been buying a previously underpinned property and had no paperwork for it :eek:, I would have run for the hills! So if they bought it with no documentation, they were fools - even if they'd had no problem while living there, didn't they think for a second about when they came to sell? AND the mortgage provider would have freakin' had kittens about lending on such a property - how the heck did they get a mortgage (and how the heck will you get a mortgage)?

When I pushed again about price reduction the estate agent said well the valuation from the banks survey came back saying the property is worth £300k and the chances of subsidence are remote so they don't think they should reduce the price. How should I counter their argument? I still think they should reduce the price.

How do they know the chances of subsidence are 'remote' without any paperwork or structural inspection? Without knowing the underlying causes? These vendors sound either dodgy as heck, or total muppets. I would walk.

Oh, and he's not 'your' estate agent, I'm afraid. He's theirs.

zooloo

I agree he is definately their estate agent! He kept telling me he has sold many houses that have been underpinned no problem. I just laughed and said your not going to tell me about the ones you didnt sell are you!

Getting a mortgage on the property is not an issue if the subsidence was a long time ago and also you can get buildings insurance which both the current owners could get and we are also accepted and able to building insurance and a mortgage.

They just don't have any documentation.

zooloo

shar46y wrote: »

How do they know the chances of subsidence are 'remote' without any paperwork or structural inspection? Without knowing the underlying causes? These vendors sound either dodgy as heck, or total muppets.

They are saying the chances are remote as that is what our surveyor said in his report. But that is a basic survey that a bank does.

Yorkie1

zooloo wrote: »

They are saying the chances are remote as that is what our surveyor said in his report. But that is a basic survey that a bank does.

Are you simply relying on the bank's valuation surveyor, or did you also instruct him / pay extra for your own homebuyers or full structural survey?

If you are only relying on the lender's valuation report then DO NOT DO SO.

The surveyor was instructed by the lender and, as such, you are not his client. Therefore he is not liable to you for anything in his report. If it started subsided 3 weeks after you bought the place, you would find it very difficult to take any proceedings against him for negligence (I think there have been unusual cases where this has happened but don't rely on them).

If you are still seriously considering this house, you MUST have a proper survey, particularly given the absence of any paperwork from the sellers.

satchmeister

zooloo wrote: »

Just heard back from my estate agent and he said that the vendor will not consider dropping the price by £10k and also will not pay for a structural engineering survey. They do not have any paper work or certificates as when they bought the property they were satisfied with whatever information they were told about the underpinning. They have loved in the property for over 11 years and they have had no problems.

In either case they said they will look into getting indementiy insurance for their house which insures the property for any subsindence for upto 25 years in the future.

When I pushed again about price reduction the estate agent said well the valuation from the banks survey came back saying the property is worth £300k and the chances of subsidence are remote so they don't think they should reduce the price. How should I counter their argument? I still think they should reduce the price.

I have highlighted in bold the relevant bits; walk.