House devalued due to mine shaft

tiddy1962

Just a thought...we bought our first house in 1989, a mining report showed no disused mine shafts within the search area. Some years later the search area was increased. Some years later again, we decided to sell, we found a buyer, they had a mining report carried out, and yes, a disused mine shaft was found within the new search area. Our buyer pulled out, eventually we had to reduce the price of the house by approximately 25% in order to make our move! The question is, can we claim for our loss?

Regards and thanks in anticipation.

ruggedtoast

Claim from whom?

lincroft1710

If you asked for a report within say, a 500 yard radius and nothing was found, you cannot complain if a mineshaft was later found 510 yards from your home. The loss you suffered would have been at the time of your purchase, not at the time of the second survey.

In any case you're probably too late to seek compensation.

davidmcn

I assume you mean from the Coal Authority? I think you can only claim where there's actually been subsidence damage caused, not just because people don't fancy buying a house near a mine shaft.

System

See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5131377 this covers your situation exactly and explains why you can not claim.

booksurr

presumably you have already used to google to research this?
the scope of mining reports have changed over time as you already know having doubtless read this about Parliamentary debate on the subject:
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1995/jun/07/mine-shafts

whether you still want to take action for lost value depends on how deep you legal fees pocket is:
http://applebys-law.co.uk/mining-claims/

kingstreet

What's the proximity?

In my experience around Stoke, an untreated shaft, adit or entry within 5m of the property might cause a downvaluation of 25%.

Anything above that, between 5m and 20m should have little impact as long as the insurer is happy to cover the risk.