Subsidence / Insurance help

Danspoon

Hey all,

we have suspected subsidence in our home. I wondered if there was any advice out there to help me approach the insurance company and avoid any pitfalls when speaking with them.

It may be that it's not that bad, the cracks are minor, and developing slowly. It maybe that there is an easy solution, such as removing the nearby tree. I guess from reading other posts on here, I'm scared about being blacklisted, or insurance going up drastically.

If there is a best approach to dealing with issues like this, I'd sincerely appreciate your help.

x
Danny

huckster

The advice is to get a surveyor or structural engineer to have a look first, before you contact the Insurers. If they confirm it is subsidence, then contact your Insurers with the information.

What you don't want to do, is register a possible subsidence claim with your Insurers and then find out it is not subsidence. You will then have a subsidence claim on your record and have issues with ever being able to shop around for Insurance.

There is also the issue with house prices, if you have had a subsidence issue, even temporary. Local to me someone had a slight problem with subsidence to a garage caused by trees and it knocked off £20k off the value when they sold it. Therefore you really should find out, if it is a definite issue you need to deal with. Surveyors/Structural engineers will charge you £500 plus, so some people choose to consult a couple of established builders to look at the damage, before they go to the expense.

Danspoon

Hey Huckster,

Thank you very much for the response, really appreciate it. It's sound advice, and I will most certainly follow it up.

Cheers!