What estate agents have to tell you?

pigput

Hi,

I'm currently in the process of buying a house. When we first showed an interest in the property, we were informed by the Estate Agents that the house had been underpinned but it was just precautionary due to subsidence evidence in the area.

However, now at an advanced stage and after spending quite a bit of money on various fees and survey, we have discovered that the underpinning was actually done due to movement of the property itself.

This has obviously changed our views dramatically and will affect insurance and any future resale also.

But my question is, should the Estate Agents have told us this in the first place? Do we have a case against them? Or is it something they wouldn't necessarily know?

Thanks in advance for any help.

thesaint

You said they informed you of the underpinnning, but what did you ask them?

Surveys are supposed to bring these things to light(which it did), so I doubt you have any recourse.

Boatdweller

Estate agents can only tell you what they have been told from the owner about the property - if that was all the vendor said that is all they can tell you. That's why you have a survey done.

thesaint

I would also say that I have never heard of anyone going to the expense of underpinning a house because of evidence of movement in the "area".

That alone would get my spidey senses tingling.

dc197

The EA will tell you (and withhold from you) whatever the feel is appropriate to win the sale. Sometimes what they say is incorrect due to having been misinformed by the seller, sometimes they bend the truth a little like all salesmen do.

Your buying full survey is unlikely to be able to confirm underpinning because doing so would require digging a hole. A survey could reveal evidence of repairs to the walls though, but repairs could have been made without underpinning or could have been made because of something other than subsidence.
The paperwork is the best source of information: Ask the vendor for insurance claim and other documentation regarding the subsidence. This should reveal whether underpinning was performed or deemed unnecessary. If deemed necessary, it will reveal when it occurred and how much of an excess hike was imposed.

If the work was done over N years ago, there are plenty of insurers who will insure you as if no claim had been made. N varies by underwriter but is often 15 or 20 years.
Do NOT go to highstreet or comparison website insurers, telephone a specialist broker. There are loads of thread on this site about that.

googler

Boatdweller wrote: »

Estate agents can only tell you what they have been told from the owner about the property - if that was all the vendor said that is all they can tell you.

This. EAs aren't structural engineers.

Hoploz

Out of interest, if a survey cannot tell if a house has been underpinned, or even if you don't have a survey at all, how would this affect insurance? I could buy a house and genuinely not know that it had suffered from movement in the past, so then I would not have anything to pass on to the insurer. Just wondering ....

pigput

Thanks for all responses.

We have now pulled out of the purchase as we have serious doubts and consider it too much of a risk.

However the Estate Agents have said they will be happy to do a transfer of mortgage at no extra cost if we can find another property.

Thanks again

thesaint

It would be interesting to get a friend to enquire about the property in a week or two and see what info is disclosed.