How to find out if a house has a history of subsidence online?

lifeofbrian2015

First time buyer here, is there anyway to find out if a house has a history of subsidence before purchase or viewing, maybe online? I understand a house with a history of subsidence is very hard to insure.

Thanks.

user1977

Have you tried getting insurance quotes for it? That will at least flag up whether the insurers are aware of a claims history.

lifeofbrian2015

user1977 said:

Have you tried getting insurance quotes for it? That will at least flag up whether the insurers are aware of a claims history.

Good idea, I'll give it a go, thanks.

amanda_p

We had historic subsidence on our house, 25 years ago. Insurance is not a problem. For buildings insurance our premium is £390 per annum with a £1000 excess. The house is a 4 bedroom detached on a 1/4 acre plot.
We have never experienced any problems with insurance, no one has refused to insure the house and the premiums have never been excessive. As long as the subsidence was dealt with properly there shouldn't be a problem. Apart from the initial claim over 20 years ago we have never had any further claims.

lifeofbrian2015

amanda_p said:

We had historic subsidence on our house, 25 years ago. Insurance is not a problem. For buildings insurance our premium is £390 per annum with a £1000 excess. The house is a 4 bedroom detached on a 1/4 acre plot.
We have never experienced any problems with insurance, no one has refused to insure the house and the premiums have never been excessive. As long as the subsidence was dealt with properly there shouldn't be a problem. Apart from the initial claim over 20 years ago we have never had any further claims.

Thanks, did you have to give evidence that it was fixed to the insurer?

cattie

A house that has suffered subsidence & had remedial work carried out by insurance company should not be hard to insure. As long as the owners stay with the insurance company that covered the cost of the remedial work, insurance will continue to be offered. There is a code of conduct or such with insurers in the UK that agree to this. So even when the property is sold, the insurance company will accept the new owners. It is common for there to be a £1000 policy excess for such a property.

amanda_p

No we didn't have to show any evidence of it being fixed. We had the sign off certificate which shows the work was correctly carried out and was structurally sound. We stayed with our original insurers for 3 years and then changed without any problems.

Annemos

What Cattie says is ideally what should be happening. 

But I have had to fight really hard to achieve that!