Coal mine entry on footprint of house... mortgage retracted

jtur99

Hi everyone,
We are in the middle of buying a house.  TSB gave us our mortgage, however they are now wanting to back out of this agreement (which I know they are allowed to do) due to the results of a coal mining search.  It has shown that there is a coal mine entry on the footprint of the house.  We have a mortgage advisor who is in the process of trying to get TSB to try and change their mind and let us have the mortgage, but I have heard that this is very hard to do?
We have had to submit evidence to them.  This has included the detailed home buyers survey we had done, which show there is no evidence of subsidence and a report from the coal mining authority that says there were no issues during the latest inspection which was done in Jan 2020.  The report also stated that no-one in the area has claimed against the CMA for subsidence.
The house was built in the 1950s, we have been told that if there was going to be issues due to the coal mine entry then we would have seen evidence of this by now?  We have also had it suggested to us that due to the current pandemic, TSB may not have the man power to deal with a mortgage which could be more complicated due to having furloughed/ill staff.  TSB want to see evidence that it has been 'treated' which from what I can gather means whether it was filled in.  But apparently finding out this information can be quite difficult and it wasn't even mandatory that they had to record this anywhere.
The current owner knew about but it has never been an issue for them  The CMA come to inspect t every 3 years.  They have even had an extension built on the exact location of it.  This had planning permission and passed building regulations.
Does anyone have any experience of this and can share the outcome?  Or know any more about situations like this?
Many thanks in advance.
Sorry for the long post!

jtur99

I should also add that the current owners have had a mortgage with TSB and they have lived there for over 20 years.  They have also never had problems getting house insurance (something else we have been told could be an issue).

davidmcn

Planning/building regulations for an extension are unlikely to have included checking the mining history, so I doubt that proves much.

Have buildings insurers actually been told there's a mineshaft under there? Of course they'll give you a policy if nobody tells them...

Similarly, were the TSB told about it when they lent to the vendors?

People might tolerate a mine shaft somewhere in the garden or nearby, but under the house itself is going to put people off, so if you really want to go ahead, bear in mind that you're going to have this problem when you remortgage or sell.

babyblade41

I think you will have a very hard job to change their minds and with good reason.

this will come up each time so unless you plan on staying in the house forever just find somewhere that doesn't have this threat 

eidand

surely this is a blessing in disguise ..... there must be many other houses that are not built over a mine shaft, surely

jtur99

eidand said:

surely this is a blessing in disguise ..... there must be many other houses that are not built over a mine shaft, surely

I completely understand what you are saying and yes there are other houses not build over a mine shaft.  However, I live in Yorkshire - there are mine shafts all over!

AdrianC

jtur99 said:

eidand said:

surely this is a blessing in disguise ..... there must be many other houses that are not built over a mine shaft, surely

I completely understand what you are saying and yes there are other houses not build over a mine shaft.  However, I live in Yorkshire - there are mine shafts all over!

There are, especially in ex-mining areas...

But RIGHT UNDER THE HOUSE?

No great surprise this lender have decided they don't think it's great security. Other lenders might be more willing, of course.

jtur99

AdrianC said:

jtur99 said:

eidand said:

surely this is a blessing in disguise ..... there must be many other houses that are not built over a mine shaft, surely

I completely understand what you are saying and yes there are other houses not build over a mine shaft.  However, I live in Yorkshire - there are mine shafts all over!

There are, especially in ex-mining areas...

But RIGHT UNDER THE HOUSE?

No great surprise this lender have decided they don't think it's great security. Other lenders might be more willing, of course.

Well, this is what I am trying to determine.  Which is why I was hoping I'd get someone with first hand experience advising me.  What is your experience of it if you don't mind me asking? 
I also understand why the lender decided it wasn't for them.  I just wish they'd let us know sooner.  

trex227

I think the issue is that when the sellers bought the property and got their mortgage it was just a mine access in the garden. Over time lenders seem to have gotten more particular about what they will accept, but aside from that, the mine access is now under a part of the house which I imagine is going to be a hard sell to any lender.
I’m not sure you’ll find anyone with first hand experience as it’s quite particular circumstances.

SharkMoney

Walk away! Thank god someone has sent you an Angel. A house on a mine? No thanks!

jtur99

trex227 said:

I think the issue is that when the sellers bought the property and got their mortgage it was just a mine access in the garden. Over time lenders seem to have gotten more particular about what they will accept, but aside from that, the mine access is now under a part of the house which I imagine is going to be a hard sell to any lender.
I’m not sure you’ll find anyone with first hand experience as it’s quite particular circumstances.

Thanks for your reply.  I'm finding it quite frustrating as we aren't actually put off the house.  We still love it.  But the main advice seems to be to pull out as we would struggle to re-sell it (it isn't our intention to sell anytime soon and ideally it would be our 'forever' home, but we are realists and know circumstances change!).  Plus, everything so far seems to suggest that chances of damage to the house due to the mine entry is actually not very likely, but we are still being told to think about pulling out.