Home Buyers Report- Shrinkable Sub soil under the property

jaysimpson

Hi All, new to the forum. Will need some advise on information on home buyers report.

Under the section of "About a property" Local environment, there is a note which says:

The property is on a flat site. The property is located in an area of shrinkable sub soil which could affect the buildings structure and we refer you to our comments later in this report. This is a risk to the building. When I go to the section which I was referred to it says:

Risk to the building- Presence of shrinkable sub soil under the property.

I'm a first time buyer and have no knowledge of this so slightly concerned.I have tried to research this but not found anything and I also tried calling the surveyor but had no luck as the customer service says he will return my call but hasn't. This is my only concern on the report as every other section was rated a "1" with the exception of Gas and Electric due to the surveyor not being able to check them.

Is this shrinkable sub soil under the property an issue? Any advise ill be greatly appreciated as I'm thinking of pulling out. Thanks in advance for your response.

markfj

jaysimpson wrote: »

Hi All, new to the forum. Will need some advise on information on home buyers report.

Under the section of "About a property" Local environment, there is a note which says:

The property is on a flat site. The property is located in an area of shrinkable sub soil which could affect the buildings structure and we refer you to our comments later in this report. This is a risk to the building. When I go to the section which I was referred to it says:

Risk to the building- Presence of shrinkable sub soil under the property.

I'm a first time buyer and have no knowledge of this so slightly concerned.I have tried to research this but not found anything and I also tried calling the surveyor but had no luck as the customer service says he will return my call but hasn't. This is my only concern on the report as every other section was rated a "1" with the exception of Gas and Electric due to the surveyor not being able to check them.

Is this shrinkable sub soil under the property an issue? Any advise ill be greatly appreciated as I'm thinking of pulling out. Thanks in advance for your response.

This might help?
http://www.subsidencesupport.co.uk/subsidence-risk.html

I cant add much, but I'm guessing its quite common and depends on the severity of it?

dc197

Could be an issue, could not be. Surveys will be worded in a way to cover the surveyor's @rse. How old is the house? If it is X decades old and there ha been no issue so far, one could say that it seems unlikely that one will arise suddenly.

Think of it like going to the doctor. Dr Surveyor notes that you smoke and you drink and you drive a motor cycle, so he lists these among all the things that could kill you. Will any of them ever be a problem? Possibly, possibly not, but if yes then he "told you so".

kinger101

It means the property has a somewhat increased risk of subsidence. I personally wouldn't worry about it too much unless;

(a) there is current evidence of subsidence; or
(b) the vendor reports high insurance premiums, excesses, or uninsurable risks in the TA6 form;

You can easily get an insurance quote for the property online. The insurance companies have very detailed databases on this sort of thing, and if there was a major issue, you'd find out from high premiums, high excesses, or refusal to insure.

But phone the surveyor again for clarification too.

jaysimpson

Many Thanks Markfj, dc197, kinger101 for your responses.

dc197- The house was built in 1930 so about 86 years, the only comment the surveyor made towards subsidence is that "We recommend that you maintain Building Insurance cover for subsidence at all times". I guess this is to cover myself. There were no additional comments made towards trees in the area or anything else. I'm sure if there were any other concerns around difficulty getting insurance or risk of trees making the issue worse, this would have been raised on the report however, I will try getting a quote on home/buildings insurance now but then again not sure what cost will be considered too high. Will also call the surveyor's office again to try and get to speak to him for further clarifcation.

jaysimpson

I have just got a quote on building and contents insurance and the best deal I could find is about £150. The value of the house is about 500K so to me, this does not appear to be high. Any thoughts anyone?

Davesnave

If you are looking in a particular area, then you could find that all the houses you view are on the same sub-soil. Much of the London basin is on clay, for example.

Sometimes, the effects of subsidence are very localised. I rented for a while in 2009, and some of the houses on the estate had been affected by movement, while others were not, although they were all built by the same builder at around the same time. This was probably due to underground springs being present in some places.

With insurance, it's the rebuilding cost that matters, but that quote is fine.

AnotherJoe

jaysimpson wrote: »

I have just got a quote on building and contents insurance and the best deal I could find is about £150. The value of the house is about 500K so to me, this does not appear to be high. Any thoughts anyone?

That's way cheaper than I pay and I shop around, so that pretty much confirms what post from dc197 said, it's the usual @rse covering from surveyors.

Who is your quote with, I will be checking them out when it's time to renew!

bouicca21

Are you in the London area? If so as Davesnave says, then pretty well every property will get the same comment from a surveyor. If you are worried why not ring the surveyor and ask if this is a problem common to the entire neighbourhood.

Kynthia

I have a 1930s house in outer London and everyone's survey mentions the risk of being built on clay. What you need to know is whether the issue mentioned is a minor caveat because all of the properties in that area are built on less than ideal soil conditions but everyone carries on living as normal, or if it's an issue just affecting that area. Call the surveyor.

jaysimpson

@Davesnave- Thanks for your input, I suspect this is maybe the case with houses in the area as I spoke with the agent and was advised they have heard the same from a few buyers in the area and maybe a precautionary measure by the surveyor.

@Anotherjoe- It was with Cooperative Insurance

@bouicca21- The house is in Potters Bar, EN6. I have called to speak to the surveyor a number of times and been told he will call me back, not heard back from him as of yet.

@Kynthia- Thanks, still trying to get through to the surveyor, no luck yet. Will have to keep chasing.