Help - where do we go from here?

youth_leader

I agree with finding a neighbour that has lived there for a number of years.  I only found out my seller had all the floors and joists taken out here in 2016 through a neighbour, she hadn't mentioned it.  Surveyor hadn't been able to inspect the subfloor. 

When I contacted her (I'd offered to put her up if she came back to the area) she said she'd left me the floor surveys, but I didn't receive them.

TheJP

youth_leader said:

I agree with finding a neighbour that has lived there for a number of years.  I only found out my seller had all the floors and joists taken out here in 2016 through a neighbour, she hadn't mentioned it.  Surveyor hadn't been able to inspect the subfloor. 

When I contacted her (I'd offered to put her up if she came back to the area) she said she'd left me the floor surveys, but I didn't receive them.

The OP answered further up the thread about the neighbours, both moved in after the application was made and are unaware.

FTB2912

ciderboy2009 said:

So, just under 20 years ago there may have been some some underpinning done.

Are there any signs of subsidence?  If not then there is a good chance that it was done and it's fixed the problem (I would have expected to see signs in 20 years if it hadn't fixed the problem).

Personally I wouldn't be losing any sleep over this unless there are signs of subsidence.

Slinky said:

Exactly as ciderboy says. It was either subsiding and has been fixed, or wasn't subsiding and hasn't been fixed because it didn't need it. More likely the first as there is the contact with the council.

Your issue will be insurance. Our house has an extension which was underpinned 27 years before we bought it. We don't know the cause. The insurance companies in the main seem to calm down at 25 years. You will need to consult a specialist broker, stick it into Compare the Market and you'll be lucky to get any quotes at all. We have a normal premium and a standard £1K excess, because of it being more than 25 years ago, but the property will forever carry a marker about the subsidence. Even if, for example, it was a garage which had subsequently been demolished. It's just how the insurance market works.

Have you tried getting a quote yet? James & Lindsay in Colchester found a decent policy for us.

Thanks both for your comments. 
We're not really worried about it as the surveyor didn't have any major issues with the house and even said he'd buy it himself which I think is a good thing. 
The issue seems to be with the solicitor as they said they will need to let the lender know as we have a mortgage. 

I really don't know what to do anymore as we're fine with it and have tried everything to find out, it's the solicitor that is having an issue with this and not really giving us any solution to this. 

@Slinky no we haven't looked at insurance yet as we don't know for sure if it's been underpinned. From reading on the forum AXA and legal and general would be good options as they don't need to know details if underpinning was done over a certain amount of time (10 years I think), in our case it would have been done in 2004/2005. 

tooldle

How old is the house OP? I've owned an underpinned house in the past and we were lucky in that our vendor had the paperwork. You may get some clue through lifting the carpets, depending on the age of the house. Ours was built onto earth with wood block above. The areas subsequently underpinned were concrete and hence very obviously out of style with the rest of the house. They surveyor stating no sign of movement is encouraging. Personally, we never had any issues in getting insurance. We stuck with the company through which the claim was made until 5 years had passed, after which we moved to Nationwide without issue. 

FTB2912

TheJP said:

youth_leader said:

I agree with finding a neighbour that has lived there for a number of years.  I only found out my seller had all the floors and joists taken out here in 2016 through a neighbour, she hadn't mentioned it.  Surveyor hadn't been able to inspect the subfloor. 

When I contacted her (I'd offered to put her up if she came back to the area) she said she'd left me the floor surveys, but I didn't receive them.

The OP answered further up the thread about the neighbours, both moved in after the application was made and are unaware.

@Slinky @youth_leader

Thank you all. Yes, that's correct, we've already checked with neighbours but they moved in after the application was made so wouldn't know. 

We're waiting to hear back from the solicitors what they suggest as I really can't see us finding out more information unless the council have more details. 
We don't have an issue with it being underpinned or not as we are happy with the house as is and the survey gave us comfort it's the solicitor that pushed this as they said they will need to know this to inform the lender. 

Bit at a loss here... 

FTB2912

tooldle said:

How old is the house OP? I've owned an underpinned house in the past and we were lucky in that our vendor had the paperwork. You may get some clue through lifting the carpets, depending on the age of the house. Ours was built onto earth with wood block above. The areas subsequently underpinned were concrete and hence very obviously out of style with the rest of the house. They surveyor stating no sign of movement is encouraging. Personally, we never had any issues in getting insurance. We stuck with the company through which the claim was made until 5 years had passed, after which we moved to Nationwide without issue. 

Thank you @tooldle the house was approximately built in the 1880s/90s. It certainly needs modernisation and we would want to renovate it but it has 'good bones' and we love the character it has. 
The surveyor didn't have any major concerns other than general age related maintenance issues which is to be expected when you buy an old property. 

Insurance wise, should the house be underpinned I think we should be okay. From reading on the forum, AXA will ask 
Has your home experienced subsidence, heave or landslip in the last 10 years?
and similarly Legal and General say: 
We have made the following assumptions about your property and its outbuildings:

- It has not been affected by subsidence, heave, landslip or structural movement in the last 15 years
- It has not been underpinned, or provided with other structural support in the last 15 years

If underpinning was done it would have been over 15 years ago so we should be okay. 

FreeBear

FTB2912 said: We spoke to a structural engineer whether there would be a way to find out a house has been underpinned and he advised underpinning is not seen on a visual inspection as it’s concealed below ground. The only way to find out is to dig a deep hole which would costs thousands of pounds, not something I can imagine the executor agreeing to and paying for.

If the ground around the area is bare soil or gravel, take a long thin steel rod and poke it in to the ground next to the wall. If it has been underpinned, there will be a ruddy great lump of concrete below the surface. Using a steel pin, you should be able to gauge how far out the concrete extends. It won't tell you how deep the concrete goes.

Digging a trial pit is not going to cost thousands. It need only be big enough to stick a head down to determine the depth & extent of the concrete underpinning - Could conceivably done with a hand operated auger.

canaldumidi

FTB2912 said:

TheJP said:

youth_leader said:

I agree with finding a neighbour that has lived there for a number of years.  I only found out my seller had all the floors and joists taken out here in 2016 through a neighbour, she hadn't mentioned it.  Surveyor hadn't been able to inspect the subfloor. 

When I contacted her (I'd offered to put her up if she came back to the area) she said she'd left me the floor surveys, but I didn't receive them.

The OP answered further up the thread about the neighbours, both moved in after the application was made and are unaware.

@Slinky @youth_leader

Thank you all. Yes, that's correct, we've already checked with neighbours but they moved in after the application was made so wouldn't know. 

We're waiting to hear back from the solicitors what they suggest as I really can't see us finding out more information unless the council have more details. 
We don't have an issue with it being underpinned or not as we are happy with the house as is and the survey gave us comfort it's the solicitor that pushed this as they said they will need to know this to inform the lender. 

Bit at a loss here... 

Not sure why you are at a loss, nor what more anyone here can say.

Until you hear back there's nothing you can do.

Your mortgage will either be approved, or not.

GDB2222

I would expect to pay a couple of hundred pounds for a trial pit, to see what the foundations look like. Did the SE really say thousands?