Subsidence advice

pnw72

In 2006, I noticed some cracks in a few walls.

We'd had a couple of very dry summers and our next door neighbour had an enormous willow tree about 60' from the house.

Googling that's facts, it was clear that the willow was probably the culprit. No other near neighbours had the problem.

I informed my neighbour about the problem and they were very understanding.

I contacted my insurer, who started monitoring the cracks. They did get bigger over a period of about a year. Also, after some digging around my property, willow roots were found.

The decision was made to remove the tree & make good the cracks.

I was aware that there would be £1,000 excess for the work. As we were doing some other improvements involving the walls with the cracks, I accepted a payment in lieu of the work to fix the cracks, less the excess.

Every year since then, my insurance has been slowly creeping up every year. It is now, in my opinion too expensive.

I tried a comparison, but no insurer wanted to know, as I had to declare all claims and this one is shown as subsidence. The few that would insure the property quoted sums double or triple what I was paying already!

I always thought subsidence involved major structural work. I didn't know something like my problem would be called subsidence.

We've since had more work done on the house including an extension, so the house is very different to the house in 2006, as there are many steels in the house including a box steel section which now supports the back of the house.

My question is how long is the subsidence a factor in how insurers calculate the risk to my property?

Is there anything I can do to get the subsidence claim "downgraded" in some way, or is there a time limit on how long subsidence is considered a factor?

Thanks for your help

Phil

bxboards

If the property is no longer subject to any movement and the cause of the movement is addressed, then is is worth insuring for subsidence? Usually this is optional cover on most policies I have seen.

I would not bother insuring for this further. You have paid out far more in insurance than the cost of the remedy. Insurers do not like anything if it has been underpinned etc but your work is fairly minor and far too cheap if you really had subsidence.

huckster

If you have a mortgage, there is normally a clause saying you need to have full Buildings Insurance.

Depending on when the subsidence issue was fixed, it might be worth looking at Axa. I think they will cover subsidence affected properties, where the claim was more than 10 years ago.

Brokers like Home Protect or Bureau Insurance Services might be worth contacting to see what they quote. To get the premium down, it might be worth considering a higher excess.

EdGasket

I have the same problem. Since subsidence work around 10 years ago, I have been unable to insure the house with anyone except the original insurers and I had to accept no further subsidence cover with them to get the premium reasonable. This does not seem right as the insurer has supposedly made the subsidence good with repairs to the appropriate standards. If you find any solution to this, please post!

I have heard that after 15 years, I might get insured again on 'standard' terms but that was only from a post on here.

dacouch

Bear in mind that all Building Policies will normally increase by circa 5% each year to keep in line with the cost of inflation.

Note inflation in builders costs tends to be higher than normal inflation, especially during boom periods.

Midland45

EdGasket wrote: »

I have heard that after 15 years, I might get insured again on 'standard' terms but that was only from a post on here.

I had a similar story of subsidence caused by trees causing shrinkage in clay and cracks appearing in garage walls. I ended up having a complete new garage built after a few years of arguing with the insurance company. Subsequently insurance companies I was trying to get a cheaper quote with at renewal, weren't interested the minute I answered yes to the subsidence question.
However after about 15 years of staying with the same company, I found that if there'd been no further subsidence a few companies were happy to quote again, and I managed to get a much cheaper quote.

jstallan

It was some time ago now but in our old house we use used Aviva who , at the time, were very reasonable .

Also I think legal & general were happy to insure properties properties that were previously subject to subsidence and after 15 years of non movement were happy to ignore it had ever happened.

I think I posted some of this info on here about 7 years ago.