Insurance Claim in Progress for tree root damage

Dan-Dan

I think you need to rid yourself of any ideas of the EA being open or honest for a start , you seem to be taking their word on these things

Take anything they say with a massive does of salt

kilby_007

So we went back today for a second look and had a discussion with the vendor.

I'm a little more concerned than previously, because the subsidence is right across the front of the house. It's not much (you wouldn't get a 10p in the cracks) but something I noticed when we first viewed was that the pointing looked pretty fresh which indicates previous issues. When you look at the rows of bricks across the bottom of the bay window they're quite skewed.

Bay Window


Cracks:


Also, I noticed three pins in this brickwork here. I'm no builder so I don't no what this is for?


The vendor did play it down, and we're still waiting for them to send us some reports that the damage is minor/slight but I'm wondering how risky it really is to proceed. I guess the next step is a proper structural (independent) survey which will give us a better idea rather than going by what the current insurers are saying.

AdrianC

The pins will go into a steel plate, probably, trying to hold it together from a previous "repair".

Thank you, and goodbye, unless this house is something very special for some reason.

Grenage

Run away; I would not even consider that house.

It's one thing to look at a house with historic subsidence (and there's been no further problems), but a completely different matter to look at a house with subsidence that needs addressing now.

Seriously, there will be other houses that tick those boxes - houses that you can insure easily, and aren't moving.

Mrs_pbradley936

I would not buy this house unless there was a huge reduction in the price.
I do have so experience of subsidence and the following is a post of mine from a while back:

We had our house monitored by the NHBC for a couple of years. It was less than 10 years old at the time. The house and garden wall across the road had developed cracks. The house needed underpinning and the wall was knocked down then rebuilt. We got a letter (so did a few neighbours) asking if they could dig holes in the garden, stick pins in the walls and come back every so often. All this was after the dry summer of 2003. Anyway we did not need anything done but they told us to keep the bushes and trees cut back really hard.

We did ask if we had to declare this if we sold and were told no because no structural work was necessary and that we were part of a survey for the immediate area of a known problem not a remedy for a problem to our house.

kilby_007

Grenage wrote: »

Run away; I would not even consider that house.

It's one thing to look at a house with historic subsidence (and there's been no further problems), but a completely different matter to look at a house with subsidence that needs addressing now.

Seriously, there will be other houses that tick those boxes - houses that you can insure easily, and aren't moving.

Yeah, it is the nicest house we've seen so far (in terms of proportions/layout/garden size and how well it's done out), but like you say as it's a current problem we could be buying tens of thousands worth of problems, and insurance/mortgage is going to be a nightmare.

I think we'll keep it on the backburner for now and keep looking but keep options open in regards to having another look once they've done the work.

kilby_007

Mrs_pbradley936 wrote: »

I would not buy this house unless there was a huge reduction in the price.
I do have so experience of subsidence and the following is a post of mine from a while back:

We had our house monitored by the NHBC for a couple of years. It was less than 10 years old at the time. The house and garden wall across the road had developed cracks. The house needed underpinning and the wall was knocked down then rebuilt. We got a letter (so did a few neighbours) asking if they could dig holes in the garden, stick pins in the walls and come back every so often. All this was after the dry summer of 2003. Anyway we did not need anything done but they told us to keep the bushes and trees cut back really hard.

We did ask if we had to declare this if we sold and were told no because no structural work was necessary and that we were part of a survey for the immediate area of a known problem not a remedy for a problem to our house.

What do you consider "a huge reduction" on a £260K house (that's the asking price)? We went in at £240K before we were made aware of the issues. I think it would probably cost us a lot in the long run because we wouldn't be able to choose the best mortgage, we'd probably be looking at a higher interest rate and that would add tens of thousands on over the mortgage term. I reckon £210K would probably be about the figure she'll get for it, and we might be waiting some time before her expectations drop to that level.

dacouch

kilby_007 wrote: »

Update: Done a couple of quotes online for subsidence insurance. Most insurers will not quote but there's a couple that come up between £350-£400 which is about double what we're paying now for a new build house. Over 10 years it'll cost £2000 extra plus a £1000 excess for any future claims.

Something to mull over, doesn't seem too bad.

Ignoring the fact that I don't believe if you actually went to accept those quotes they would be correct or even that they would accept the business.

Do you realise that you will almost certainly need to arrange cover with the existing Insurer as the claim is ongoing. The existing Insurer will need to agree to transfer the claim to you and ideally you need to be a customer so you benefit from the guarantees on the work and / or the protection of the Ombudsman

kilby_007

dacouch wrote: »

Ignoring the fact that I don't believe if you actually went to accept those quotes they would be correct or even that they would accept the business.

Do you realise that you will almost certainly need to arrange cover with the existing Insurer as the claim is ongoing. The existing Insurer will need to agree to transfer the claim to you and ideally you need to be a customer so you benefit from the guarantees on the work and / or the protection of the Ombudsman

We said that we wouldn't exchange contracts until all work had been done and a cert. of structural adequacy can be supplied so it wouldn't be "ongoing" at the point of completion but regardless, I think we've pretty much ruled out the idea of pursuing with this as subsidence could happen again further down the line and then it might be in need of underpinning.

To be honest I reckon the only reason the vendor is selling is to get away from the problems because when I asked where she is moving, she said "somewhere else in the area" and she said she'd be willing to move out now and rent if it meant selling the house, so unsurprisingly she's keen to get rid of it!

kilby_007

Thanks for your comments guys, we've crossed it off the list! Next....!