Purchased house with subsidence

saganaki20

Thank you @Bigphil1474 This is really insightful, I had heard approx £4K per year for adequate insurance - thank you! 

eddddy

saganaki20 said:

I understood that the minute the structural engineer writes his report, is when it’s publicly available? Ie, I couldn’t ‘undo this’ - and insurance companies could see this for years to come, even if I have had the remedial works completed without claiming on the insurance, have I got this wrong? 

There is no concept of a report being publicly available. A structural engineer writes a report and gives it to you - it's not published anywhere.

Maybe you're thinking of the CUE database. If you contact your insurers about an 'incident which may or may not result in a claim', they're likely to record it on the CUE database, and other insurers can see that.

But in any case, you don't really want a report - you probably want a structural engineer to take a look and give you an verbal opinion.

Once you have the structural engineers opinion, you can decide your next steps. If the structural engineer says it's subsidence, you might be duty-bound to tell your insurers in due course.

FTBNoIdea

They might do a site inspection/investigation which is more a verbal yes or no on the issue. Normally costs around £100 or so.

endplate

What I would say is don't beat yourself up about missing it. Everyone misses something when buying a house, especially in the current climate and circumstance you were in. You spend more time testing driving a car then looking at a house, sadly the way the system works. 
Wait for that report, there are several options to fix but none are cheap. Most likely a combination of underpinning and then tieing in metal rods into the wall 

Sistergold

Dear OP. Renting the house out will not solve the issue that there is subsidence. Also selling the house quickly after patching up is just trying your luck as next buyer might be very thorough with the most rigorous survey.

Do you like the location of the said house? If I were you I would now just take it that I have a roof over my head as this was the problem at hand when you “rushed” into buying. I will not do anything for now even a report I will just live in the house and observe. After some years you can then decide how you want to address the problem. Don’t stress about it as to be honest yes it’s an invest but most of all it’s a roof over your head. 

Just enjoy the house what’s done is done. Don’t be hash on yourself viewing is such a whirlwind you are likely not to see an elephant even if you looked. 

Good luck. 

amanda_p

If a structural engineer has discovered subsidence get it fixed properly via your insurance company. This is what insurance is for. We had subsidence over 30 years ago now,  ours was essex clay and tree roots in a wooded setting,house was monitored, bore holes dug and eventually underpinned. It took over three years and I think things are done quicker and more efficiently now. When it is all finished you get a certificate to show the house is structurally sound or something similar and all the work has been signed off.
As for your insurance it may stay high for a few years ,subsidence although you don't want it is not seen as the issue it once was. We were with the Prudential who paid out for all our work which was in excess of £30,000 , over 30 years ago. We stayed with them for a few years and then changed insurer. Our annual premium is around £450 for a large 4 bedroomed detached house on a half acre plot.

This is the sort of issue you pay insurance for. Once remedied it will give you peace of mind.

Slinky

The thing is though if the subsidence obviously predates the OP's purchase, why would the insurer be liable to pay out? I'm sure one of the questions asked when you take out building insurance, is about whether the property is in good condition.

It might be worth considering putting it into an auction and taking the hit.

youth_leader

I do feel for you.  I bought a bungalow and have to have all the floors ripped out, there's water under the building from somewhere.