Subsidence found second day moved in, please help !!!

westernpromise

Old houses do move without there being subsidence. They expand in the heat and contract when it cools. It's been hot lately. Subsidence cracks are usually diagonal and quite wide. Where are yours?

redstarz

It!!!8217;s not quite old , 1979s house. The obvious crack in my house is 2 bricks height on top the ground on the external wall close to the tree.

Thanks for the feedback.

Doozergirl

Two bricks high? In the driest summer we've had since before your house was built, when there's a tree nearby - that doesn't sound too bad?!

redstarz

Well. There are lots inside cracks as well and the survey report did mention them, but insisted that there was no identification of subsidence....

I did sent pics to few independent surveyors and all of them said it’s not so good.

Unfortunately I can’t upload pics here.

We have been quite depressed now: can’t eat and sleep well, can’t breathe well either and feel constant chest pain! Still can’t believe it!!!

davidmcn

I'm not sure why you've convinced yourself that there's subsidence when the only professional who has looked at it has told you there isn't. Obviously the other surveyors you've sent the photos are hardly likely to give you a clean bill of health without taking your money and paying a visit.

Davesnave

redstarz wrote: »

can’t eat and sleep well, can’t breathe well either and feel constant chest pain! Still can’t believe it!!!

These are all symptoms of a panic attack. You are doing this to yourself, but over what? Something which you may be misinterpreting.


Even in a worst case scenario, you are covered for whatever remedial action needs to be applied....and there always is one.


From personal experience, I know being told to 'get a grip' doesn't work without some appropriate medical intervention. In your position I'd get a GP appt this afternoon.

redstarz

Thanks for the feedback.

I don!!!8217;t mind paying other independent surveyors for the independent survey. However, it seemed they are not interested and all the feedbacks from them were to find structural engineers , which makes more like a serious issue.

And yes I!!!8217;m trying to reach my GP , not sure when though.

Thanks again.

westernpromise

OK, so think through what happens in the worst case.

1/ The surveyor comes back, reinspects and says Yes, it's subsidence.
2/ His PI policy pays for it to be fixed (it can be). Sorted. Or
3/ A different surveyor inspects and says Yes, it's subsidence.
4/ You claim on your household insurance.
5/ The insurer sends its own assessor. Based on its assessor's report it then does one of two things. Either:
6/ Your insurer pays for it to be fixed (it can be) and recovers its payout from your surveyor's PI policy. Sorted. Or
7/ Your insurer declines to pay because its assessor says it's been like that since before they insured.
8/ If it's 7, you have a claim against the surveyor you engaged when you bought the property, based on what the insurance company's expert says he should have spotted. Go to 2.

Subsidence is a bl00dy nuisance but it's fixable.

Filo25

Can I just say IF there is now apparent subsidence it is perfectly possible that it wasn't noticeable if the survey was done a couple of month's ago, the long hot summer will have been hard on a few properties this year.

That said as a FTB who also has suffered with anxiety, I was convinced that our house had subsidence after I bought it and indeed worked myself up into a bit of a state about it, suffice to say it didn't have subsidence, and I really was getting myself into a bundle of stress for nothing.

Thanks for the feedback.

I don!!!8217;t mind paying other independent surveyors for the independent survey. However, it seemed they are not interested and all the feedbacks from them were to find structural engineers , which makes more like a serious issue.

It doesn't make it more like a serious issue, it just means that if you are specifically worried about and looking for a problem like subsidence rather than a general report on the property then a structural engineer would be the appropriate person to look at it

Jane_B

You are not an expert, you do not know there is subsidence, so just wait until the original surveyor comes back from holiday, or instruct another expert to look into it in the meantime.