Historical Movement on a 1930s House

Fire_Fox

Might you do anything with the land or just enjoy the space? Just being nosy. From my perspective the worst thing is the kitchenette, the rest is decorative and totally livable with.

Craig_MGR

No plans for the land , I'm on a tight budget. The provision of sockets in the house is pretty poor by modern standards and extra ones will need to go in the kitchen. After doing some further reading , it seems you need get all major electrical work certified now i.e. the addition of extra sockets and switches. I hadn't factored that in .

Fire_Fox

When was the last full rewire, is there a modern circuit breaker? Is the kitchen on its own ring (would be best)? You might find the kitchen fitters you use will do wiring in the kitchen within the package, they will generally have electricians, plumbers and gas safe engineers on hand for installing ovens, dishwashers and other white goods. Teach yourself tiling, that saves money and really is not that difficult.

Craig_MGR

There is a relatively modern fuse box with circuit breakers. I'm not sure if the kitchen has its own though. A friend of mine is Edition 16 Certificated but 17 , which is the latest.

motherofstudents

It's a lovely house, I think you will enjoy transforming it into what you want. Even if it takes a little time to do it will be worth it. Our last two houses were similar and I'm a real fan of 1930's semis. As far as the settlement goes, you have had an assurance from the surveyor so you won't have a problem with insurance and if anything did turn out to be a serious fault, you can sue him. Just remember what he has told you in the report in the future if you replace the windows. Good luck.

ruggedtoast

Craig_MGR wrote: »

I've just phoned the surveyor and he said the house has definitely not suffered from subsidence. He also stated that I could answer 'no' to questions about subsidence, foundation movement etc...

He can say what he likes, but in order to conform to the assumptions of most of the buildings insurance policies I have seen, you have to be able to answer "no" to the question about whether there has been any movement.

I had a similar thing with a house we ended up pulling out of. Unbeknownst to us or the surveyor, next door (it was a semi) turned out to have been underpinned and there was a 'cracking from movement that's not really movement' mentioned on the survey for 'our' house (that seemed a lot less innocent when we knew about the underpining next door).

I called a number of insurers and read out the 'historical longstanding movement with no evidence of progression' as it was written in the survey and most of them had pretty much put the phone down on me before I even got to the part about next doors underpinning.

Most of them were very clear that any movement whatsoever precluded the house from their policies, in the end I could only get quotes from a few companies, one of which wanted a full engineers report before they would quote.

Craig_MGR

The Co-Op Home Insurance assumption relating to subsidence is :


The property is not showing signs of and has never been affected by subsidence, heave or landslip.

I read this to the surveyor and he said it hasn't suffered or is showing no signs of suffering from them.

Nan_Dingle

I'd get that in writing to be covered by his profesional indemnity insurance.

ruggedtoast

Craig_MGR wrote: »

The Co-Op Home Insurance assumption relating to subsidence is :


The property is not showing signs of and has never been affected by subsidence, heave or landslip.

I read this to the surveyor and he said it hasn't suffered or is showing no signs of suffering from them.

Why don't you call the insurance company and read them what the survey actually says and ask them what they think? I presume the reason you don't want to is you are worried they will refuse cover, which to be honest based on what your survey says I would expect them to.

I don't think your surveyor is doing you any favours to be honest. He has has given you a written report that clearly says there has been movement, and is telling you in person that there hasn't been.

By all means keep quiet about it, but if you do have to make a claim for subsidence in the future and the insurance company manage to unearth your survey or see your longstanding movement that isn't subsidence, you could find yourself up the creek without a paddle. No payout and cancelled insurance.

COnsidering insurance is supposed to buy peace of mind it doesnt really seem worth it to me.

Craig_MGR

He did say the survey its self is evidence that the house isn't suffering from landslip , subsidence and heave. The survey was a full buildings/structural survey and not a Home Buyers report.

As a side note, I can't believe how stressful the house buying process is.

I'm inclined to possibly make a lower offer. Here are the other items listed on the survey, some of which I was already aware of :

1. Repointing of brickwork needed to localised areas.
2. Windows are showing signs of failed seals and replacements needed.
3. Electrical test and some upgrading needed.
4. Hollow wall and ceiling plaster in places and replastering/skimming needed
to sections.
5. Undertake areas of internal and external redecoration.
6. Suspected asbestos cement sheeting in understairs cupboard and to boiler
flue requires testing and possible removal.
7. Kitchen needs some maintenance to cabinets.
8. Chimney needs some repointing and flashings redressing.
9. Ideally additional bracing and tieing of roof timbers needed.
10. Gutters and downpipes, gullies and inspection chamber pipework are
seeping and repair is required.
11. Boundary walls and fences require some repair.
12. Garage needs repair and upgrading.