Underpinned

cycloneuk

I'm around 5 weeks into a purchase and a search is showing it was underpinned 13 years back, not exacly sure why yet. Should the sellers not of declared this earlier? they have ticked no to Building Works on the sellers Property Information form and also no to there being any warranties for underpinning.

They were aware of it since it was done around 12 months before they purchased it and the same issue cropped up, they had to adopt the previous insurance policy.

BitterAndTwisted

Underpinning is not necessarily a problem in and of itself: it's the solution to one. Has there been any movement since it was undertaken? What did your surveyor have to say about it?

cycloneuk

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Underpinning is not necessarily a problem in and of itself: it's the solution to one. Has there been any movement since it was undertaken? What did your surveyor have to say about it?

Not had a survey done, wasn't going to get one done so no idea if any movement as occured since. Waiting on more info from sols to see why it was underpinned and how much current insurance is before making any further decision on what to do.

ruggedtoast

They should have declared it but they were probably hoping you either wouldnt notice, wouldnt care, or would consider yourself too far in to make an issue out of it.

Exactly the same thing happened to me, I ended up pulling out in the end for a variety of reasons, some of were caused by concerns over the obvious dishonesty of my sellers.

cycloneuk

Bloody stressful this lol, my sale is getting close to agreeing exchange dates in next week or so. I feel i'm already paying the top end of what it is worth, a valuation would probably come in 2k to 4k under.

ruggedtoast

There is a lot of stigma associated with properties that have experienced subsidence. Not least of all due to the difficulties in getting an insurance policy.

Bear in mind that if you do go ahead you will have a choice of about three insurers for the rest of the time you live there, one of which requires an engineers report before quoting.

Depending on the house, the price and the area this may be acceptable for you. There are sought after areas of London built on clay soil where pretty much everyone has had a bit of movement or underpinning done.

If however you're the only house in a slow market somewhere it may be a bit too much of a risk when you want to resell.

cycloneuk

What would be an average cost to get a structural engineers report done? i'd be looking for the seller to pay.

ruggedtoast

Few hundred quid I think. I would employ my own engineer if I were you though.

They have already been economical with the truth about the underpinning, do you trust them to employ a good engineer and then hand you the unvarnished unexpurgated report?

BitterAndTwisted

YOU'RE NOT PLANNING ON HAVING A SURVEY DONE? Please reconsider: it could be the best thousand pounds you ever spend in your life. Do not trust the vendors to have the structural engineers report done: that would be foolish in the extreme. Almost as foolish as no full structural survey

lincroft1710

Did the form say "has there been building work" or "has current owner had any building work carried out". Some people may not regard underpinning as building work, although I would regard it as such. Also they may not have the warranty for the underpinning or it may have expired.

Or they may not be telling the truth.

thomasdown

cycloneuk wrote: »

What would be an average cost to get a structural engineers report done? i'd be looking for the seller to pay.

I had one done but quotes varied from £280 - £700. I paid with V.A.T. in the end £420. You can get them done cheaper though if you don't want a full survey though. Like in your case just to check the under-pinning and to see if there is any movement? They might quote just to do this but you won't get a full survey? By which I mean they won't take soil samples etc etc. Ring about and get some quotes?

In my case it was worth it because the house had drainage issues. The footings of the house have been washing away for about the last 15 years (next door neighbour had extension and we reckon thats when the drains got damaged). This added about 6 weeks on to our moving date because the work had to get done on the previous owners insurance and they used our report to give to the insurance company, but they sent there own surveyer round anyway and agreed with our report? So the whole shared drive had to be dug up and replaced and drains replaced which were in a hurrendous state. When the bank sent there person round they were not happy with a crack in one of the walls and we gave them the structual report with a copy of the report from the seller of the work had been carried out and thankfully enough they did not retain any of the mortgage and offered in full when we said we would be re-rendering with 6 months and getting the cracks sorted out etc.

So the moral of the story get it done it will be worth it?