Am I about to make the worst purchase in my life?

lukas-0704

After some serious advice from you guys. Had my third offer accepted on my first property in Milton Keynes a couple of weeks ago. I have also received from the estate agent the certificate of structural adequacy issued by some company instructed by Aviva house insurance back in 2012, which talks about 'clay shrinkage subsidence' with mitigation action including removal of vegetation. Now, of course I am going to instruct a structural engineer to have a look at the property before properly signing it all off. And I read a little bit about issues with house insurance and lack of competition due to having to use specialist brokers and companies. Is there any additional paperwork I should be requesting through my solicitor? How much is the new insurance likely to cost? I know that there is some sort of agreement that previous company should cover me when buying the property, but at what cost? Really unsure what to do and have no one to ask as parents don't really have any clue how it all works? Appreciate your help.

Errata

mitigation action including removal of vegetation

Can't see what difference this would make unless they mean trees or Japanese Knotweed.

lukas-0704

Thanks Errata for responding. But isn't subsidence caused by expanding roots of trees and vegetation?

ManuelG

lukas-0704 wrote: »

Thanks Errata for responding. But isn't subsidence caused by expanding roots of trees and vegetation?

If all they've done is take it away to prevent subsidence in the future, all is good.

If subsidence has already happened, they'd have done more than that, hopefully, else you'll have a big problem... or rather the seller will!

TartanSaver

Clay shrinkage is caused by clayey soil being compressed (from the weight of your prospective home) or by the soil being dried out. Vegetation will draw water from the soil. Have a look at http://www.subsidencesupport.co.uk/what-causes-subsidence.html#soil1

echelon101

Subsidence is caused by a change in stress state in the ground (check out terzaghis consolidation theory if you are feeling mathsy). So the ground can shrink if you increase the total stress on it either by putting a new load on it or by taking water out of the ground. The latter is what your vegetation removal is doing, hence its bad to have a house next to a large tree in addition to roots.

The contractor has to be careful that when they are extracting this vegetation that any void lefts are suitably filled and compacted. This will make sure that your back garden does not become a horror show from the ground softening up.

lukas-0704

Thanks for the responses so far. I am still unsure as to what my next steps should be? Go for it, once obtained more information and structural survey, or cut my losses now and walk away?

Elfbert

If I were you I'd be asking the sellers how much their insurance was, or phoning Aviva and asking them how much it would be to insure the property, as a starter.

Or, if you're not bothered and could find a similar property without these issues, go for that. It really depends how much you like the house and how much effort you want to put into buying it/how much money you have for surveys etc.

I_have_spoken

Buildings insurance for property with minor subsidence history https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3983319

bubblesmoney

From my understanding, clay expands and contracts seasonally based on the amount of water content. This causes issues with subsidence if the expansion and contraction is excessive. some places like in the USA have requirements that need regular water hosing of area around the house if in a clay zone or need drip irrigation to keep water content of clay around house reasonable. iF there is no automated system regulating moisture in clay over which house is built then a owner might look after it as its their investment. But if let out to tenants then they might not bother watering area around the house in dry summer to keep clay moisture content ok. If there is a very dry summer them clay shrinks more than usual, So what happens is that clay shrinks causing subsidence cracks and subsidence might be obvious if you visit in a dry time of the year but is later you visit in a wet time of the year (or if after subsidence cracks appear and the they start watering the dry clay) the moisture content comes up and clay expands and subsidence might not be very obvious but cracks will remain unless repaired.

This was what was explained to my brother when he was buying a similar property abroad built on clay but property had subsidence cracks but subsidence wasnt obvious as they had watered the clay after the cracks so the clay had expanded. He later pulled out of that purchase after discussing with his structural survey people as they said remedial & preventative work (automatic drip irrigation system for clay moisture control) would be expensive.

I am a layperson so dont take my word as the gospel truth!