I bought a house 6 days ago and now its got subsidence - please help me!!

milliebear00001

nickj wrote: »

if you buy a house and then notice a few days later it has subsidence then they would have to assume that unless there had been an earthquake the faults were there at the time of purchase and should have been informed as such when the policy was taken out .

OK, so what if the subsidence had occurred several years ago? Made good, survey done - not uncovered etc etc?

Are you saying that no insurance will cover any claim that arises in any house that has ever had subsidence? Even where it was pretty muh impossible for the insured person to have known about it?

haras_nosirrah

Leif wrote: »

In that case it only finds obvious big issues, but can miss a lot.

Surely no survey will lift carpets and look under wall paper - what would happen if the buyer pulled out? The vendor would have to foot the bill to make the house right again?

If the buyer agreed to put right any damage caused by their survey if they didn't exchange then maybe but otherwise there is no way I would allow someone to damage my property and walk away.

No survey will pick up everything

nickj_2

milliebear00001 wrote: »

OK, so what if the subsidence had occurred several years ago? Made good, survey done - not uncovered etc etc?

Are you saying that no insurance will cover any claim that arises in any house that has ever had subsidence? Even where it was pretty muh impossible for the insured person to have known about it?

when you take out a policy there's a section which says has your house ever suffered from subsidence , if it has and you declare it , then your premiums will account for the possiblity of increased risk of further subsidence and claims .
if the policyholder has decided not to declare this , or is unaware of this then that is down to them , the insurance company will not pay out , especially if the policy is only a few days old - there would have been evidence of subsidence before , this normally doesn't occur overnight

milliebear00001

nickj wrote: »

when you take out a policy there's a section which says has your house ever suffered from subsidence , if it has and you declare it , then your premiums will account for the possiblity of increased risk of further subsidence and claims .
if the policyholder has decided not to declare this , or is unaware of this then that is down to them , the insurance company will not pay out , especially if the policy is only a few days old - there would have been evidence of subsidence before , this normally doesn't occur overnight

I can understand this in the case of a recent purchase where there are fairly clear signs of cracking, but my house (for example) is 100 years old. I'd have no way of knowing if there had been subsidence 20 or 30 years ago. Would a survey (homebuyers or structural) always pick up this history?

Leif

haras_nosirrah wrote: »

Surely no survey will lift carpets and look under wall paper - what would happen if the buyer pulled out? The vendor would have to foot the bill to make the house right again?

If the buyer agreed to put right any damage caused by their survey if they didn't exchange then maybe but otherwise there is no way I would allow someone to damage my property and walk away.

No survey will pick up everything

I'm not talking about removing carpet and wall paper, but taking a peak. And yes unless the carpet is loose, and the paper peeling, the owner quite rightly would not allow that. Quite large cracks can be hidden by wall paper, as I found, although they were not structural i.e. settlement.

charlie_crabbesticks

Dear All,

I'd just like to say thank you for the helpful replies...I would like to say I am new to this site and didn't realise anyone had responded! I have bought 3 houses now and always had basic valuations - they have always highlighted if I need to get the house surveyed further. The valuation from nationwide did list that there subsidence and it said that it was long standing and of no further worry. As it was nationwides policy not to send out surveys we didn't know this. If I'd seen this I wouldn't have bought the house.
As for those for comment that I should've seen it when viewing the house... thats why I paid £225 for a survey. I didn't lie to my insurance compnay as has been intimated on here.

irnbru_2

charlie_crabbesticks wrote: »

The valuation from nationwide did list that there subsidence and it said that it was long standing and of no further worry.

Reminded me of this.

usignuolo

Building societies valuation report is to check house is worth the mortgage they are lending on it. Normally if there is obvious external subsidence then they won't lend. My friend got turned down for a mortgage on a house for just this reason. (He bought it and had it underpinned.) Areas where there is wholesale subsidence (like mining areas) are often redlined by the building societies. Was there a home sellers pack the sellers filled in? Would there have been a question relating to structural soundness of house (haven't bought a house recently so I don't know what current questions are) If so, and it was not correctly answered, there might be a case for suing the seller.

Rotor

I would write to the insurance company claiming for the subsidence, if and when they turn the claim down then it's off to the ombudsman you go. they can't expect you to inform them of something you don't know about.


It wouldn't work with health insurance ( sorry sir your heart must have been clogging up for years - so we're not paying ), and anyway it would be a way out of almost any claim for subsidence because trees take decades to grow and cause problems , broken drains can take months or years to wash away enough soil fines to cause enough soil movement but most insurance policies run for 12 months

These claims are made when the problem is recognised not when the damage is caused.

Leif

It sounds like you have to read closely the terms and conditions on your house insurance, and your dealings with the Nationwide. I suspect that the survey commissioned by Nationwide was for their use only, and they had no obligation to share it with you, but you will need to check that. Your house insurance policy might say that you should take adequate precautions to check for faults such as subsidence, and if that is the case then they could argue that as you did not commission a survey, you did not take adequate precautions. However, you also presumably used a conveyancing solicitor during the purchase, and it is possible they should have ensured that Nationwide sent you a copy of their survey. I am speaking on the basis of little knowledge (this is after all the internet) but it does seem that this is not simple. As I say, read carefully the insurance documents, the Nationwide letters etc, and communications from your solicitor.

I tend to think you are at fault for not ensuring that you had your own survey, or saw the Nationwide one, but I might be wrong. I had Nationwide handle my house purchase, and I upgraded the survey to the HBR, and of course I got to see a copy. Perhaps it could be argued that your solicitor, as one who knew what (s)he was doing (??), would have been responsible for ensuring you saw the Nationwide survey. Just a guess. It sounds like you need legal advice.