Previous subsidence implications

debaser008

I'm currently thinking about purchasing a house. I viewed one today which the estate agent told me had previously (10-12 years ago) had a claim for subsidence. She told me there had been some work done at the time to resolve this and would be finding out some more information from the vendor. The vendor is going to provide some details associated with the work on Monday – apparently the insurer etc. was happy with what had been done.

My understanding is the area had been used for mining historically and I'm told that the houses - presumably this doesn't apply to every house, but at least some - aren't built with foundations (well, that's my non technical interpretation or what another, also non expert, told me). They're all Edwardian/Victorian terraces.!

Can someone advice on the implications that this might have for me if I bought the house? From the little information I've been given to date the issue was resolved at the time, but the claim has been made so I'm wondering if this would potentially make insurance more difficult to get or something. Perhaps a large excess for future claims? Obviously there is the issue of the actual effect of subsidence, but presumably work can be done to fix it if a problem arose in future. It's just whether that work would be covered on insurance if there has previously been a problem at the property. I've had a scout through the forum and it seems like the length of time since the work was done might be a consideration - 10-12 years seems comparatively recent.

My immediate response when the estate agent told me was not 'oh no, the house is falling down', but more related to the general practicalities of insurance etc.!

I'm a first-time buyer so a) have never had to get building insurance and b) want to try and be fully informed before making a big decision like this! I also feel a little bit of pressure as houses seem to go so quickly – this one will probably be viewed today and gone on Monday based on my recent experience. Any advice much appreciated.!

suelizab

Any underpinning, keep away from. Old Mining areas, keep away from . I would walk away .

Chanes

suelizab wrote: »

Any underpinning, keep away from. Old Mining areas, keep away from . I would walk away .

Crikey! I thought I was a nervous buyer!

Doozergirl

suelizab wrote: »

Any underpinning, keep away from. Old Mining areas, keep away from . I would walk away .

Always nice when people explain themselves thoroughly.

debaser008

If I were to rule out anything that was an old mining area, I would be ruling out a large chunk of the area I've been looking at - if not all of it. In some respects I would feel better if the problem had been fixed before I got there, rather than having to get a house underpinned myself 2 years down the line.

It so happens that I'm not going to put in an offer on this property for a couple of other reasons, and it also turns out that the underpinning was actually done much more recently - only 4 or 5 years ago.

But this might come up again on properties nearby, just because of the area that I'm looking in. So I guess my original question still stands - would it affect insurance? Would there be a higher excess on issues relating to subsidence if the house has been impacted previously? Any information or experience appreciated.

alumende27

You'd need to speak to insurance companies. I have a house that I can only get one insurance company to cover due to subsidence and recent remediation work. However, I also know that as time goes by more and more companies will be willing to insure it.

I pay £600 a year for buildings and contents insurance with a £2500 excess on subsidence related claims. Note that you will need to check whether what the insurance company offers is acceptable to the lender, assuming you have a mortgage. For example, I could easily get insurance that had a much higher excess on subsidence claims but the lender insists on no more than 2.5K excess for such claims.

On the point of walking away from a house that had subsidence that has since been fixed. It scares some people for sure, but a correctly underpinned property will be more secure than most! You might want to consider how difficult it could be to sell in future too.