Selling a house: Declaring subsidence

ac427

If i sell my home that suffered subsidence more than 30 years ago.


Do i legally have to declare the subsidence to anyone ?

Do i legally have to declare the subsequent underpinning to anyone ?

lincroft1710

If a prospective buyer asks - yes.

If subsidence or underpinning is referred to on the buyer's questionnaire - yes.

pinkteapot

Mention it to the EA that you decide to use. They work for you, and can try to weed out some of the buyers who might be scared off by it during conveyancing (e.g. anxious first-time buyers). This might save you some wasted time if you sell, fill in the legal questionnaire, and then your buyer pulls out.

Mallotum_X

Consider it the other way round, would you be happy to buy a house that the vendor tried to hide that.

It will probably come out in the buying process and may put vendors off simply because you tried to hide it. They may think "what else is he not telling me"

If the house has had the problem solved and not shown any signs of problems since then its better to be open and explain the historic issue that was solved and has not returned. You can explain it in a way to put a positive spin on it. This is especially true if there is a general risk of subsistence to the area (old mining etc) as people may be aware of the general risk but you can sell your house as already been done - so no nasty surprises.

rob404uk

I was buying a house that we later found out had historical subsidence. (20 yrs ago) It was the searches that told me about it.
I asked for 10% discount when I found out, rejected then I walked away.
The house was probably the least likely to fall down on the street but I was worried about how hard it would be to sell later

ac427

rob404uk wrote: »

I was buying a house that we later found out had historical subsidence. (20 yrs ago) It was the searches that told me about it.
I asked for 10% discount when I found out, rejected then I walked away.
The house was probably the least likely to fall down on the street but I was worried about how hard it would be to sell later

Thanks Rob, This is exactly where i am at the moment. I do not want to have to discount the selling price to make a sale.

Neither would i want to dupe anyone. I was told i would not have to declare subsidence from a legal standpoint. I was a bit skeptical when told this though.

pinkteapot

ac427 wrote: »

Thanks Rob, This is exactly where i am at the moment. I do not want to have to discount the selling price to make a sale.

Neither would i want to dupe anyone. I was told i would not have to declare subsidence from a legal standpoint. I was a bit skeptical when told this though.

Your solicitor will give you a Property Information Form (a questionnaire) to fill in, which will be given to the buyer. It's legally binding in that if you lie on it then the seller can sue you for the amount that the house is lower in value because of the lie.

It will ask about subsidence.

The simple reality that a house that has had subsidence is always worth a little less than an identical house with no history of structural problems. It will cost your buyer more to insure the house, and it will put off some buyers, reducing your pool of buyers.

Annisele

ac427 wrote: »

I was told i would not have to declare subsidence from a legal standpoint. I was a bit skeptical when told this though.

There is some truth in that. If you're not asked about subsidence, then you don't have to say anything.

As others have said, the problem with that approach is that you will be asked about subsidence - and then you will have to disclose.

Ky-An

My question is did you know about the subsidence when you bought the house. I presume this would come up in the searches anyway.