Leasehold flat insurance question

lpturncoat

Hi,

My wife and I are buying a flat and are in the very final stages. Turns out the building was underpinned in 1988 and the insurance company were unaware of this. They have had a survey done and it has come back fine, they want to know the original reason for the underpinning but nobody seems to know, The freeholder has changed since. The building is insured but with no subsidence cover. Our solicitor will not exchange until subsidence cover is in place but if the initial reason for underpinning cannot be found is there anything we can do?

Richard_Webster

You can't do very much but the seller should have made sure this was all sorted out when he bought, or if he lived there in 1988, when it happened.

I would walk away, as you could have a lot of difficulties selling in the future. If there is no subsidence cover, then if you are having a mortgage the lender will not proceed with the loan, so the property would only have a cash buyer and therefore its value should be significantly discounted.

elvis_girl

You could look here http://www.bureauinsure.co.uk/subsidence_insurance.htm to get insurance as they deal with just this problem. Could take a while to sort out though and the mortgage company won't proceed without proper buildings insurance. Did you try asking any of the other occupants of the flat? Surely their insurance cover is also affected