Buying our council home which has had subsidence

Yorkie1

PasturesNew wrote: »

If you need a mortgage, the subsidence etc might prevent you getting one.

I was thinking this.

Plus, on similar lines, most (if not all??) mortgage lenders have specific criteria about the buildings insurance which they require to be in place. Those criteria can include the amount of excess which is payable in certain scenarios including subsidence.

Even if you did get insurance on the property with this history, it is highly possible that your excess on the subsidence claims element would be too high for your lender's requirements.

HappyMJ

As with others that have posted I would only offer a tiny figure if only to save you having to pay rent ever again a very small fraction of what they say it is worth maybe a couple of months rent. With it's history it will never be able to be sold on. Insurance premiums will be high if an insurance policy is even able to be obtained at all. Sorry but 4 events of subsidence is far too many. One maybe with a structural engineers report but 4....I'm out.

If you really are determined to buy this property can you get your own structural engineers report on it. It'll cost a lot maybe up to £1,000 if not more but might give you an idea of the state of the property and the condition of the repairs.

ska_lover

I would look to do an exchange - to a house out of the subsidence zone - before even considering putting in to buy

lincroft1710

HappyMJ wrote: »

As with others that have posted I would only offer a tiny figure if only to save you having to pay rent ever again a very small fraction of what they say it is worth maybe a couple of months rent.

They don't have the option of making an offer, they either accept the council's valuation or if they believe it's too high, the District Valuer will determine the value.

What council would accept "a couple of months' rent" for a property when they would get this 6 times a year if they didn't sell. The land value would be a minimum of several thousand pounds.

teddysmum

My mother-in-law's privately owned terraced house, together with her neighbours', had bad subsidence problems (in her case a one inch crack all the way up an inside wall and a back bedroom with a noticeably sloping floor) and , because of research by my geologist brother-in-law , the (then ) Coal Board had to admit liability and undertook repairs.


The repairs must have cost thousands and involved moving each household out to Coal Board houses, for several months, each.


When she went into a care home, the house was sold, but the buyer (buy to let) paid cash, so I assume he couldn't get a mortgage.


Also, as pet insurers won't cover pre-existing conditions and are not eager to take on pets with pre-existing conditions, then I would assume that home insurers would act likewise.