Is my vendor or real estate agent lying to me

Smodlet

missprice wrote: »

Probably the time to look for help was before you started the buying process, but you are here now and lots of advice can be found. I hope some of it helps. I believe there is a sticky thread but you will have to find it ^^ up near the top of this section.
I believe as you are so naive at the moment, this is not the house for you. As you learn over time and buying/selling things will change.

I can only agree with this. This property does not sound like a good buy for anyone who is not a builder or a developer. I imagine you may have thought you had found a bargain. The adage, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is" is an adage for a reason.

As far as "the internet says subsidence can be insured" (presumably against) is concerned, I would be more inclined to consult an insurance company or several rather than rely on that. Call some up, try their websites to see if sample policies are available to view but I have yet to come across an insurance company who does not exclude this and I have been buying home insurance for decades. Every year I seem to change provider as renewal costs are ridiculous compared with those of new policies so this is standard across the industry.

The very fact you are being advised to commission a structural survey rather than the usual Homebuyer's report (in England, the law is different in Scotland) rings alarm bells in itself. These are necessary only on very large, very old, very unusual or very damaged properties as a rule.

It's your call but, if you want my opinion, walk away. Find somewhere else in a far better state of repair or put your plans on hold for a while and save up for a much bigger deposit and look again.

In the meantime, you can learn quite a bit just from monitoring this board. I don't think there are many eventualities which someone or other on here has not encountered by now. Learn from other people's mistakes; it's cheaper and far less stressful.

Good luck.

elsien

For future reference don't believe what the vendor or estate agent tell you about the important stuff unless you can verify it for yourself.

Moneysaving222

Hi elisen yes I’m going to verify myself, I just didn’t want to spend the extra money at this point.

Moneysaving222

Hi smodlet. Yes I’ve called an insurance company today and they need the structural report. Without that, nothing will go forward.

So I either spend £180 now or write of anything.

Albala

Subsidence is something that personally I wouldn't touch, unless the cause had been identified and remedied, and even then I suspect I would walk away because it can be difficult to get insurance even if the problem is done and dusted. We're buying a 'mild' (cosmetic not structural) doer-upper this time, and it will be our third house -family members have bought all sorts of wrecks and semi-wrecks, and some of them have had significant issues, but none of us have ever bought a place with subsidence. No doubt sometimes there are bargains to be had if the problem can be permanently dealt with reasonably easily and cheaply, but until any fix is applied it's hard to be sure it will work. At the very least, you need to know what you might be getting into and how tricky/expensive it may be to fix, so a structural engineer's report seems to be indicated. Even if you are happy about it yourself after that, you don't want to get stuck with something you can't sell later if you have to.



I would really worry about someone inexperienced with buying, selling, and maintaining property getting involved with a subsidence issue.

Moneysaving222

Hi Albala thanks for your comments.

Yes the structural report needs to be done for the mortgage.

I’m confused as to if I will get insurance or not.

The vendor is telling me that she’s had a surveyor come out and they said no structural movement or subsidence. Lol. Cracks between bricks show there is.

So I think I’ll pull out, because the vendor won’t do the necessary work before selling.

Nebulous2

Most insurers do cover you for subsidence. See Directline for instance.

I have a listed building, built in the 1730s. When buying it the homebuyers report said there was evidence of historic subsidence. I had difficulty getting insurance, partly because of the age, and partly because it was not occupied full -time. When I did they asked for a copy of the homebuyers report, no structural survey, and put £1000 excess on subsidence claims.

kinger101

Moneysaving222 wrote: »

I’m confused as to if I will get insurance or not.

No insurance policy is going to cover for historical damage.

As far as I'm aware, no insurance companies are going to cover buildings where there is a present ongoing subsidence* issue (grounds for suspicion or proven)

They may cover building where there is historic subsidence (i.e., it has been remedied, and in the expert of an appropriate qualified person, is unlikely to pose a problem in the future). There'll likely be an increased excess, and possibly higher premiums.

As it stands, the property cannot be insured for subsidence. And even if it's fixed, a new insurance policy isn't going to cover old damage.

Moneysaving222

Hi Nebulous2, I called and can’t get insurance for 12 months after work is done. Also I think pre-existing work isn’t covered. Owner is in denial about structural movement.

martindow

Moneysaving222 wrote: »

So I either spend £180 now or write of anything.

Where does £180 come from? I had to pay several times that for a structural engineer to come out and report on a crack in my house. I think it was around £500 about ten years ago.