Buying a House With Minor Subsidence

ChrisLowe

Hi Guys

I just bought a house for £410k which was on the market for £425k. We both really like the house and we're getting excited about moving in but have just received a letter from our solicitor tipping us off about an insurance claim for subsidence which was made in 2010.

This was clay shrinkage subsidence due to uptake of moisture by the shrubs outside the property. The damage was classed as "slight" and underpinning wasn't necessary, just removal of the shrubs and fixing of the cracks. The seller has all the necessary Engineers reports.

The solicitors letter is advising that it may be difficult to obtain insurance and obviously that the house will be harder to sell. I've had a quick look on the comparison sites and the insurance seems to be around £100 P/A more expensive which I can live with.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Should I just walk away or is it worth investigating it further?

kilby_007

Personally, I would walk away. They haven't been upfront about it so they knew it was significant enough to put buyers off. How recent was the subsidence and re-pointing of the mortar? If you do continue, I wouldn't rely on the vendor's report. Get a proper structural engineer to assess the potential for further damage. In my experience with subsidence, vendors try and cover up the damage and get rid of the property as quickly as they can before any further cracks appear. I've had three experiences with viewing/offering on properties with subsidence, only one of them was upfront about it...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5383206

I drive past that house regularly. They did the work in Feb, sold it in March, and recently there's some suspicious looking cracks appearing again...

ChrisLowe

The repair was done in 2010. If we decided to go ahead then we'd get a full survey done. We already paid for a Homebuyers survey which unfortunately took place the day before we heard about the subsidence. I haven't heard back on that one yet.

nubbins

Investigate further but be aware you are buying the equivalent of a CAT C car, if you get it for a price that takes this into account then fair enough. I was in exactly your situation, researched, investigated and in the end I walked

ChrisLowe

Well I think £410k is a good price for the house assuming no subsidence history. I'm not quite sure it's cheap enough though when taking into account this new info.

Thrugelmir

Ask to see a copy of the reports.

G_M

kilby_007 wrote: »

Personally, I would walk away. They haven't been upfront about it ...

How do you know?

Almost certainly the OP's solicitor 'tipped off' (ie informed) the OP after being told about the subsidence by either the vendor or, if they too are using a solicitor, the vendor's solicitor.

That is a standard part of conveyancing - nothing underhand at all.

The OP's solicitor will have sent a standard list of questions which the vendor has answered, with no attempt to hide the matter. Indeed - they've even sent the relevant documentation.

However, now that you know, you will obviously have to do your due diligence. If as suggested the problem was shrinkage caused by a hedge which has gone, and there has been no further movement since 2010, there is probobly little/no risk.

I bought my current property (1851 stone) 20 years ago, with some huge cracks cause, according to my structural engineer, by the wisteria climbing over the roof. I removed the wisteria, re-pointed the stone, and there's been no recurrance in 20 years.

Get a professional to assess. Yes, it might be worse than you are being told, but equally it might be a historic problem that's been fixed.

ChrisLowe

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Ask to see a copy of the reports.

I have a copy of the report and a copy of the Certificate of Structural Adequacy.

I should also state that the house was built in 2003.

kilby_007

G_M wrote: »

How do you know?

If they were open about it, they would have told the buyer via the estate agent before the buyer instructed their solicitors and applied for a mortgage. It's probably via the property information form that the solicitor found out (the OP should have had a copy of this form anyway so unsure why they would need to be "tipped off"), but subsidence is widely known to be a major (negative) factor in decision making when it comes to making an offer on a property, so it's quite underhand to accept an offer and then continue with the sale with no verbal indicators, just a check box on a sheet. The vendor likely knows that the OP will have spent some cash, made some emotional ties and invested their time into the purchase and it becomes more difficult for the buyer to walk away.

Davesnave

So far as I know there's no requirement to advertise subsidence when selling. Once the S word is used, many won't even look, so its a judgement call whether to mention it.

If a vendor waits until the documentation is sent across, then the extent becomes critical. In this case it's minor on a recently built property, which is a different can of worms from long-standing issues with an old property.

Nevertheless if I'd been the vendor, I'd have imparted the info during viewings and stressed the appropriate pricing at that point. I'd fully expect an attempt from any buyer to reduce that price further too.

The question now is whether the price adequately compensates for the reduction in saleability, and if it does, then the next step is an in-depth survey by a structural engineer. Someone is going to live in this house, but only the OP can really say whether it should be them.

Footnote: A car I owned was written-off, repaired and sold on. I saw it and quizzed the owner, because I hadn't realised that's what might happen. He was very happy with it, but then, he didn't pay what I paid!

Seanymph

I've had two houses with historical subsidence, and works to rectify the problem - and have had no issues at all.

Insurance is a shopping expedition sometimes, but then I loved both houses so I didn't mind.

It's a call isn't it - you know it's not likely to occur again, you have the certificate, but are you prepared to pay a little extra for insurance, or not?