Ground stability moderate/high

dexterwolf

We are looking at a house but the report comes up as moderate / high for ground stability for natural or non natural ground subsidence. The cul-de-sac and road behind of house seem to be built on landfill which is why I am presuming it is moderate to high. 
Is it best to withdraw now to avoid problems further down the line ?. As the property is 30 years old and we love it but if we plough thousands in doing it up how we like it and the house has structural issues then we would have to spend far more getting it sorted and not able to sell the house . 

I would welcome some advice if anyone has any on this area please.

princeofpounds

This is an important flag but it's not something to drop the transaction for on its own.

Firstly - this report is almost certainly not down to the household level. It's probably something like 'within 50 metres'. That's important because you know about the situation behind the house, and hopefully you can establish if your ground is the same or not. If it's not the same, it's not the same. 

Second - this report is normally a flag to look for signs of subsidence at the property itself, through a survey. If it has been standing for 30 years and there are no such signs, there's no particular reason to think it's a risk. Especially as it's (presumably) not related to things like open mining voids or water courses that can change quickly. 

Third - you can buy alternative reports to inform your decision. I think there is one which gives subsidence insurance claims data on a postcode level. This might help you, especially if your postcode is different to the road behind.

Apparently 1 in 3 properties are moderate (e.g. loads of the stuff built on London clay) so make sure you view this in context. 

greatcrested

Ooops!

davidmcn

As above, bear in mind these searches are at a very low resolution - assuming you're looking in the same neighbourhood, you may well find all your alternative choices have similar ground stability, so it might be daft to have second thoughts for this reason.

greatcrested

davidmcn said:

As above,

I'm guessing your post refers to princeofpounds, not mine.

I'm on medication today so tongue is firmly in (someone's) cheek.....

Missy79

I'm looking at buying a property with nearby natural ground instability. Looking at the maps it's a small watercourse at the bottom of a slope at the end of the garden. The potentially unstable ground closely follows the watercourse and looking further afield all watercourses. The house (and many others nearby) is still standing after 60 years so I'm assuming it's not likely to be a big problem in reality. At least there were no mines nearby .