Would you buy this house? Subsidence worries

KyroneD

Hi

I would appreciate some advice for an ongoing situation

We are currently buying a house. The searches have found a Completion Certificate for building work done on the rear corner of the house due to subsidence.

From the certificate, I am unsure if the work was completed in 1995 or 2012; I suspect its 1995 and the current owners (who bought in 2012) had arranged an inspection for which this paperwork relates to.

The home buyers survey (done prior to being aware of the above) says 'There is evidence of past structural movement. A degree of roof spread has occurred in the rear outrigger, resulting in outward deflection of the brickwork beneath. The movement is likely to have occurred soon after construction and further movement is considered unlikely. Remedial action is not considered necessary...

...distortion to brickwork is visible, as is the resulting stepped crack to mortar joints, which has since been repointed. Stepped cracking to mortar joints was also noted to the rear gable of the rear outrigger, over the ground room window. Repointing of brickwork over the kitchen window suggests that a lintel has been inserted when the window opening was formed. This work is thought to be the cause of the stepped cracking above.'

When I found out about the search result I phoned the surveyor and let him know. He said that the only way to be sure is to have a structural engineer out. I spoke to one of them and he said to gather as much info as possible pre inspection and get back to him.

My next steps are gathering as much information as possible and my plan is to find out (or at least try)

- how much movement, and what damage was caused
- what was the perceived cause
- who carried out the building work
- who paid for the work ie insurance claim
- what building work was carried out
- is there a guarantee; for how long, is it transferable
- what is their current insurance premium
- is there a certificate of structural adequacy

And then get a structural survey. In the mean time I'll be letting the bank know and see what they say

Some other stuff about this bothers me.
- I asked the vendor to his face if he was aware with any problems with the property and he said no.
- There has been recent redecoration in the room where subsidence would occur and this may cover any internal evidence of subsidence.
- They have entirely refused to move on price previously... not sure why but this makes me uncomfortable.
- There was another minor problem (lack of party wall in the rear outrigger loft space). The estate agent was fairly rude to me regarding me showing the vendor the results of the buildings survey, and because of work demands I didn't return the information that quickly. Then it turned out the vendor had phoned my surveyor directly to discuss this problem, without my permission. Surely this is inappropriate...?
- I did a search to see what our buildings insurance would be and only one quote came back for £1000

So my questions, if anyone has made it this far...!

- do the comments in the buildings survey make it sound as if this is an active problem?
- what other action should I be taking.
- how helpful will a structural survey be? How much can really be told?
- what future problems do people envisage?

We love the house, we've been looking for ages... I have a tendency to be quite risk averse, much to my wife's frustration. Different people have said different things ('run a mile'; 'if its underpinned it will be stronger than ever')

I'll keep you updated if anyone is interested!

Cheers

Ky

anselld

The items described do not sound like subsidence as they are caused by building defects rather than foundation movement. Hence mention of underpinning is not relevant.
If you are risk averse it would be worth getting an engineers report on the specific areas of concern (not necessarily a full structural survey of the entire property) This should be relatively inexpensive and should identify specific problems and recommended solutions; it all sounds repairable to be honest.

I_have_spoken

Walk away. Sounds like the vendor is hiding problems.

Lord_Baltimore

Walk. You work hard for your money, don't gamble with it.

thequant

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Walk away. Sounds like the vendor is hiding problems.

Totally agree,


As an aside the fact this place has a history of subsidence means that you are likely to pay hefty insurance premiums in the future. This alone is a material fact that affects the price you agreed to buy the property at.

mrginge

Risk averse, subsidence and an awkward vendor don't seem like a good combination to me.
Walk.

cattie

As somebody who bought a house that had been the subject of remedial work due to tree roots causing cracking, I have voted a big fat no!

No matter how nice it is, any house with past structural/remedial work that requires a certificate will always be harder to sell & will generally attract a price that is lower than a comparable trouble free property.

When a house has been the subject of remedial work then ideally the buildings insurance needs to be kept with the company with whom the original claim was made. There is a code of practice with insurance co's where they agree to continue to offer insurance to any such property, even when ownership changes.

It is very hard to find a new insurer happy to issue buildings insurance once a property has had a claim & if insurance is offered, it is at a much higher premium than normal.

KyroneD

Interesting responses!

We await the Mortgage providers perspective and a look at any paperwork the vendor digs out...

HelenRachel

Run a mile! For these reasons;

1) there may be future problems with the building
2) it will cost large sums to insure
3) it will be difficult to sell at a later date, even if you think it's your forever home you may need a quick sale in future!

Good luck whatever you decide!

ruggedtoast

Ordinarily no, but if a structural survey came through ok, I loved it, and the price was excellent I might think about it,

KyroneD

Pulled out, much to my wife's disgust.

The vendor came back and said they had no paperwork for the previous building work. And still no indication they would negotiate on price. 'Do you want it or not?', pushy

Also

- vendors only been there 18 months
- we only found out bout the subsidence from our solicitor doing the searches

Too suspect for my liking. Risk is all ours

Love, if you ever read this, I am sorry! We will find somewhere better