Bought a house with subsidence

mr_humpadink

Well I haven't but a friend has,

A few of months ago a friend bought a completely refurbished terraced house, after a few weeks he noticed cracking on the ceilings which he filled, but they started cracking again.

He asked me to have a look, I noticed that the windows were not square but nothing that worried me (120+ year old house) and the bay window had been rebuild in the past, I noticed that the ceilings weren't level so we decided to lift the carpet and floorboards to have a look, the joists had obviously dropped but new timber (4"x2") had been bolted to the old to level everything out.

There is a drop of about 3" across the room before the new timber was fitted, and I've noticed that there is very fine cracking in the plasterwork above and below most windows and doors.

The house was last sold a couple of years ago at auction, the house next door has just been let so had a look on rightmove and you can see the subsidence in the pictures.

Sorry about the long post, got carried away lol

What's his best course of action ? Can he take the seller to court ?

After me showing him the pictures of next door he said he's going to put it back on the market, but won't be be liable selling a house with subsidence ?

I feel it's bad news but I thought I'd ask anyway

00ec25

are you a qualified structural engineer?

what movement tests have you conducted, over how long, and with what results?

mr_humpadink

I did mention him getting a structural survey but he thinks that would go against him if he sold the house, he doesn't want to even contact his solicitor for the same reason.

I would of thought that he might have a case against the seller, he only had a basic survey done.

davidmcn

Why would he have a case against the seller? Did he ask the seller anything about subsidence?

SandraX

davidmcn wrote: »

Why would he have a case against the seller? Did he ask the seller anything about subsidence?

A sellers questionnaire is usually completed before a sale this always ask about things like this.. If they have lied in that then you have a case.
form ta6

Tom99

SandraX wrote: »

A sellers questionnaire is usually completed before a sale this always ask about things like this.. If they have lied in that then you have a case.
form ta6

No not quite. There are no questions about the repair or structural state of the property on TA6. The seller could know that it is about to fall down next week and would not need to provide that information to the buyer.

However, providing the current seller was involved in an insurance claim regarding the subsidence then they would need to have lied on TA6 under one and maybe two headings.

Section 5 - Guarantees and Warranties.
Underpinning - yes/no/enclosed/to follow

Section 6 - Insurance
Any abnormal rise in premium - yes/no
Subject to high excess - yes/no
Unusual Conditions - yes/no
Refused - yes/no
Made a claim - yes/no

The current seller bought 2yrs ago at auction and has tarted it up, covering any cracks until they reappear, its most unlikely they made an insurance claim. Are the auction particulars still available?

Unless the current seller made an insurance claim or gave you information about the structural state of the property in such a way as you would be expected to rely on that, then you don't have any claim against the seller.

Its 120yrs old so your friend obviously employed their own surveyor. What did it say in their report? If they were negligent in not spotting these defects there's your claim - against their professional indemnity insurance and exactly the reason you employ a surveyor in the 1st place.

There is central register of all claims its called CLUE Claims & Underwriting Exchange whereby all claims are logged on a central database. Unfortunately it is only for insurance companies. Here:

https://www.experian.co.uk/consumer-information/claims-underwriting-exchange.html

I think what I would do is approach an insurance company direct, saying I wanted to insure my house but I suspect a previous claim for subsidence has been made and I obviously do not want to give them false information. Would it be possible for them to check that. It might work it might not but worth a try.

Lastly, is the house still moving? If not then why the urgent need to sell?

Hillwalker11

It is better for him to get the work done by a professional.The movement will need to be monitored by a structural engineer over a period of time to monitor and measure movement.After this time he will give a report on the best way forward dependent on his findings.The work will then be undertaken and when finished, will be signed off, which means the house will be structurally sound.This is the time to sell, not before. Your friends insurance company also need to be informed as they will be paying for it and will at some stage send a loss adjuster round.Subsidence does not always mean the house is falling down or will need underpinning.This year the forecast is for many houses to have movement problems due to the hot,dry summer.

AdrianC

So he thinks he might have a case against the seller for not telling him...
...and his response is to put it back on the market and plan not to tell the buyer...
...but he definitely won't be liable in the way he wants to hold his seller liable...

<scratches head>
Is it me?

Caveat emptor. The time to do his pre-purchase due diligence was... Well, there's a clue. He might have a case against his surveyor if his survey failed to notice, but...

NinaSwiss

mr_humpadink wrote: »

I did mention him getting a structural survey but he thinks that would go against him if he sold the house, he doesn't want to even contact his solicitor for the same reason.

I would of thought that he might have a case against the seller, he only had a basic survey done.

If by 'basic survey' you mean a valuation then I doubt the surveyor can be held accountable as some have mentioned.

mr_humpadink

Thank you Tom99 for taking your time to reply, I don't know all the answers to your questions yet but he did use a surveyor.

The reason he/we think that there is still movement is the amount of cracking, everything in the house is new and it has been replastered , I know new plaster can crack where the boards join but there are diagonal cracks on all the windows and doors that we can see, some walls have wallpaper on and we can't see what's going on behind it.

I have asked him to speak to a solicitor and get a professional structural survey done.

I have found and read the auction property "legal documents" and it shows a mine shaft under the houses at the back but it also says that it is unlikely to affect the property.

The ball is in his court now, I'll let you know what he does.

BTW, he doesn't know that I'm asking on these forums....

davidmcn

NinaSwiss wrote: »

If by 'basic survey' you mean a valuation then I doubt the surveyor can be held accountable as some have mentioned.

If it was for him (rather than purely for a mortgage lender) then he might have a case - they're certainly intended to cover any visible structural problems.