Help pls :) 1st time buyer subsidence history

Braley

Hi

This is my 1st post so hopefully I will do it correctly.

Myself and my partner are in the process of buying a house.

I will bullet the facts below: -

• 3 bedroom detached with first storey extention (small)
• Offer accepted at £2K until asking price
• Full valuation completed - All clear
• Solicitor fees/searches paid

As a result of the searches our solicitior has informed us of a past subsidence claim that was made in 2011 - work completing early 2012.
The subsidence was found where the extension was made to the property. Cracks were identified 5mm at the widest point.The cause was identified as a faulty drain and vegetation. The insurance company of the vendor took upon works to resolve the problem, trees stumps removed and drains repaired.
The property has a certificate of structural adequacy to guarantee the works. Our solictor has fowarded all the necessary paperwork of the claim.
We have since spoken to the neighbours to see if there was any subsidence history to which they said no. We have also set the wheels in motion to get some insurance quotes, if we were to go ahead with the purchase. I have also read that sometimes existing policies can be transferred.


I was after some advice/opinions on what we should do, I guess I see us of having the below options: -

• Pull out of the house sale
• Negotiate an offer on the price
• Go-ahead as planned

Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated as we feel a bit out of our depth.


Many Thanks in advance :T

xylophone

The subsidence was found where the extension was made to the property. Cracks were identified 5mm at the widest point.The cause was identified as a faulty drain and vegetation. The insurance company of the vendor took upon works to resolve the problem, trees stumps removed and drains repaired.
The property has a certificate of structural adequacy to guarantee the works. Our solictor has fowarded all the necessary paperwork of the claim.

In view of the above, if I were the vendor, I might be giving you a dusty answer if you tried

Negotiate an offer on the price

dacouch

The normal process for this type of situation is the vendors Insurers agree to take you on as a client with the subsidence claim cross referred.

You will pay higher Insurance premiums all the time you own the house and homes with subsidence are more difficult to sell when you eventually want to sell up

Braley

Thankyou for the replies so far.

I have tried to do some reading on the subject and it can be quite scary stuff.
I was under the impression this case of subsidence was quite slight compared to other cases.

@xylophone - Would you not make an offer on the price as the insurance premiums would be higher than normal?

@dacouch - I have read that after 10 -15yrs some insurance companies will ensure at normal premiums.. Axa & Legal & General to name.

I am 50/50 at the moment on whether to proceed :-/ it feels rather daunting.

dacouch

Braley wrote: »

@dacouch - I have read that after 10 -15yrs some insurance companies will ensure at normal premiums.. Axa & Legal & General to name.

Yes currently, they both only started accepting this business fairly recently, other companies aren't interested in offering cover for a number of reasons. There are no guarantees that Axa or L&G will still be accepting this type of business next month let alone ten or fifteen years time.

cattie

As somebody who bought a property that had had remedial work done on it under an insurance claim a year before I bought it, I have to say that I would never again take on a property with any kind of former structural issue.

My buildings insurance on the said property was not sky high, in fact it was only a couple of pounds or so a month than I'd been paying on my previous property, but the big negative for me was when I came to sell & realised that possibly, many potential buyers would run a mile no matter how much they loved my house.

As it turned out, I had no problem selling. I would have liked to have achieved a price much closer to the asking price, but decided a committed buyer at a lower price was better than sitting on the market for months hoping somebody else would come along who wouldn't be scared off once they knew about the remedial work.

If you do go ahead with the house, make sure you don't pay too much for it. I ended up paying top whack for mine as it was bought at the height of the market & in hindsight realise I should have bargained hard to get the price down once the remedial work was revealed to me.