Finding out about subsidence

kilby_007

Arklight wrote: »

We had a similar thing with a house we walked ended up walking on. Dishonest vendors, their lying EA, and when our surveyor went round they did their utmost to make sure he could access as little of the house as possible. Right down to identifying a different garage in the compound than the one with the leaking roof the house had, and then saying they had lost the key.

I would run a mile unless the price really is cheap.

Re. insurance. Insurers will have differing policies towards subsidence at different times depending on their spread of risk, customer profiles, and policies. You can check one year and almost everyone is covering previous movement, then a year later you go to renew and almost no one is. Its just a lottery.

Places like Adrian Flux (a broker) and Bureau Insure are two companies that generally always offer insurance for subsidence but who can say what the cost would be.

Dishonest vendors want to make you run a mile, don't they! We had the same a month back with another property but the vendor was a bit further on in the process. The EA had told us about problems with the house but the vendor played it down, saying it was just minor movement caused by tree roots. At the end of the day, it was subsidence whether she agreed it was or not. She's just gone "under offer" again for the 4th time in 3 months...

The house in question though doesn't have subsidence (as in, there's no movement yet), it's classed as a chemical corrosion (suplhate attack) of the brickwork and I can't find an insurance company that would cover this as they all have the clause mentioned above.

kilby_007

So, this is pretty disgusting. The EA just rang to say if we weren't going ahead with the sale based on our "concerns" then they have received another higher offer. It's not just a hunch we have, the builder has had a report carried out on the property! What annoys me most is that the vendors paid 170K for the house in 2009, have probably spent 20K doing it up and are selling for 295K, that's 105K profit for a duff house! Is there anything I can do to let the poor souls who've offered on it know about this, or do we just have to hope their survey picks it up?

kinger101

kilby_007 wrote: »

Thanks, I guess it might have helped, but probably not in this case as the vendor wouldn't have declared the issue anyway. I'm not even sure if there's a part on the TA6 which asks "are there any structural issues" I think they just ask about flooding and subsidence.

There's only the insurance bit really, which I guess you'd queried anyway. But it's always useful to get in writing.

LisaLou1982

kilby_007 wrote: »

So, this is pretty disgusting. The EA just rang to say if we weren't going ahead with the sale based on our "concerns" then they have received another higher offer. It's not just a hunch we have, the builder has had a report carried out on the property! What annoys me most is that the vendors paid 170K for the house in 2009, have probably spent 20K doing it up and are selling for 295K, that's 105K profit for a duff house! Is there anything I can do to let the poor souls who've offered on it know about this, or do we just have to hope their survey picks it up?

I think best not to let it worry you Kilby.

Youve obviously had a lucky escape by finding out about the issues, and the EA are obliged to tell the new purchasers if they ask. Obviously the key is for the purchaser to ask if there is anything that they need to know which would detriment their purchase.

Try not to be too bitter about it. It doesnt matter what the owners bought the house for, or how much they are trying to sell it for. You were prepared to buy it as you felt the price was ok, but then you found something which you werent prepared to complete yourself. These new buyers may or may not complete on the property but its their responsibility to get all the checks done, and not yours to seek them out and make them aware which may seem a bit like sour grapes.

Hope you manage to find something else soon x

kilby_007

LisaLou1982 wrote: »

I think best not to let it worry you Kilby.

Youve obviously had a lucky escape by finding out about the issues, and the EA are obliged to tell the new purchasers if they ask. Obviously the key is for the purchaser to ask if there is anything that they need to know which would detriment their purchase.

Try not to be too bitter about it. It doesnt matter what the owners bought the house for, or how much they are trying to sell it for. You were prepared to buy it as you felt the price was ok, but then you found something which you werent prepared to complete yourself. These new buyers may or may not complete on the property but its their responsibility to get all the checks done, and not yours to seek them out and make them aware which may seem a bit like sour grapes.

Hope you manage to find something else soon x

Since the EA hasn't really taken what I said seriously and the vendors won't admit to any problems I don't think the EA will pass on that there's a problem because she's only got my word for it. It sounds like sour grapes, but I haven't lost out - just narrowly avoided a nightmare by having the foresight to have a chat with a nearby builder. I just hope for their sake that they don't get one of these crap roadside surveys done...

I believe that the current vendors bought the property cheap because of the sulphate attack, and all they've done is refurbished it internally and trying to pass it off now with the same problems, but at full market value. It is a pretty atrocious thing to do, IMO, but I won't dwell on it any more. Hopefully third time lucky and we find somewhere this weekend!