Buying a house that had subsidence

dutchyholland

Hi all,

We have been looking a purchasing another property. We have had an offer accepted and went round to look at the property again on Saturday. After walking around we noticed that more work needs doing to the property than expected !!

But what really took us by surprise was when we were talking to the next door neighbour about the area and houses. He mentioned that his house and the house were are potentially buying and the one next door have had subsidence all within the last 8-10 years with the last lot being in 2007. This was due to a very large oak tree near the properties. The next door neighbour said that he has had no movement or any cracks since 2007.

But the property we are looking at has cracks all over the walls, garden is uneven and there is a few damp patches around!!

What do we do now? Shall we pull out completely , get a full building survey or ask the vendors about the subsidence ??

Thanks,

Simon

moneyistooshorttomention

Those two next door neighbours obviously don't get on very well then with each other....that was a very "low blow" administered to the house-selling neighbour by the other one. I wonder what the cause of friction between them is...

ess0two

Surely a surveyor would pick movement up?

curedham

Depends if you want to pay for the building survey or not. If you're convinced that there's subsidence I would suggest you do your research first before ordering the survey.

A colleague of mine just recently bought a house that was under-pinned. It caused him a bit of a problem with the mortgage company, although it now all cleared. Insuring the building may be an issue since it won't be a "straight forward" case.

dutchyholland

Who knows what the friction but I don't care, so glad that we got speaking to the neighbour !!

In two minds wether to even proceed don't really want to waste money on a survey

ElkyElky

Don't take the neighbour's word for it. Speak to the vendor and ask them for more information - perhaps this will help you decide if you want to proceed with paying for surveys. If they don't get on that well then perhaps the neighbour is lying in order to sabotage the sale out of spite? Who knows.

The subsidence is quite recent so you'll problems with insurance or it'll be very expensive. Personally, I'd run from any property if the dreaded S word is mentioned.

I don't know a lot about this but you'd think that the vendors would have had the cracks repaired on the walls when they were having the subsidence problems sorted, why haven't they?

cattie

Before accepting the offer the vendors should really have informed you of past remedial works. They can't hide the fact that it happened as your solicitor would no doubt have found out during the conveyancing process.

A vendor who fails to be up front is one to avoid in my opinion.

Last year I sold a property that had had remedial work done to it under an insurance claim about a year or so before I bought it. It affected the price quite substantially when I came to sell & of course turned some prospective purchasers off. Because of this, in hindsight, I wish I'd never bought the property. I didn't fully realise what a turn off any thought of subsidence would be to other purchasers at the time of buying the house.

No matter how much I liked a property, I would never, ever even consider anything that had had remedial work carried out due to it under an insurance claim. My advice is to put on those trainers & beat a fast track away from this house.

spidereyes

Firstly I would speak to the vendor to see what his take on the position is. Obviously, depending on the severity on the work it could seriously affect your mortgage valuation so this is something to consider!

You would be amazed by the amount of sellers who have had underpinning carried out and kept it very quite, low and behold half way through the conveyancing process it becomes apparent and they advise they "forgot" to mention it before.

At the very least I suppose you can be grateful you've found out about it now and not a month down the line when its revealed in your search results (depending on what remedial work was undertaken)

andy.m_2

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Those two next door neighbours obviously don't get on very well then with each other....that was a very "low blow" administered to the house-selling neighbour by the other one. I wonder what the cause of friction between them is...

HHhhmm, while I would tend to agree with you intially, I have to say that if you consider the bigger picture that may not be the case.

If neighbour A wants shot of neighbour B then encouraging the sale is the way to go, not scuppering the sale.
Perhaps the neighbour is a genuinely considerate person who would rather have you not waste money on a survey only to find heave.
That way, should you decide to go ahead and move in then Wow what a first impression and you would have got a great neighbour.

Furts

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Those two next door neighbours obviously don't get on very well then with each other....that was a very "low blow" administered to the house-selling neighbour by the other one. I wonder what the cause of friction between them is...

The neighbours may be genuine, helpful and honest people.

I am aware of potentially defective homes within a stone throw of where I live. Should a prospective purchaser of one of these homes ask me for my opinion I would be truthful - these houses represent a risk.

Likewise, if I was looking to purchase a home I would be be speaking with the neighbours and expecting truthful information.

holly_hobby

dutchyholland wrote: »

Hi all,

We have been looking a purchasing another property. We have had an offer accepted and went round to look at the property again on Saturday. After walking around we noticed that more work needs doing to the property than expected !!

But what really took us by surprise was when we were talking to the next door neighbour about the area and houses. He mentioned that his house and the house were are potentially buying and the one next door have had subsidence all within the last 8-10 years with the last lot being in 2007. This was due to a very large oak tree near the properties. The next door neighbour said that he has had no movement or any cracks since 2007.

But the property we are looking at has cracks all over the walls, garden is uneven and there is a few damp patches around!!

What do we do now? Shall we pull out completely , get a full building survey or ask the vendors about the subsidence ??

Thanks,

Simon

How old is the property ?

All houses do move to a small degree over time, however significant movement over the shortterm is an issue.

If it was wholly caused by the tree, there are no other large trees in proximity, and the offending tree has been dealt with, with no further movement, that may be the end of the matter - and the cracks now really just historical evidence of the issue.

To which if you really want this ... you instruct a structual engineer to have a gander, which a surveyor will request on behalf of the lender in any event, or suggest to you if you're buying for cash, and if he suspects/know of on going or recent movement)

If you're buying for cash and the Vendor won't permit this - walk away .

Hope this helps

Holly