Help! selling house & survey says l-standing subsidence...

clueless80

Hi. Advice very much appreciated...

We are selling a house that we previously lived in but have been renting out after leaving the area. We accepted a low offer due to stamp duty threshold and sale had been progressing very slowly (offer accepted 2 months ago - no chain).

We were notified a couple of weeks ago that the buyer's home buyer survey pointed out longstanding subsidence. It has taken this long for the buyer to present the survey. The buyer wants to send a builder around and hasn't appointed a structural engineer... Nothing came up on our survey in 2006 and we are already making a loss on the property so would struggle with any renegotiation of price.

I am also a bit worried about our own insurance as I have to get a new (unoccupied) policy soon as it's nearly reached the time on my landlords insurance when the policy is invalid as tenants moved out a while ago.

A few questions - in the main, how much of an issue is this? And how would people proceed with the seller? I feel that a structural engineer should be going around before any mention of building work... Is that right? I assume I have no rights with my insurance company if this is longstanding? Also I assume I need to declare now for my new policy?

Thanks very much!!!

Eston9

Homeowners with significant equity should sell unless their home is a desirable rental and they want to take on the challenges of a landlord.
Even if you have to sell at a price that is lower than what it was worth a few years ago, if you have equity, it is a much less risky choice to sell. The higher-risk decision is to deal with renters who may not pay the rent and who may damage the property.