Underpinning on Side extension 8 years later

davisaj22

Hi all,
we are currently in the process of buying a house.

The local authority search has come back and showed that a side extension was built in 2013. The same extension was then underpinned in August 2021. (The extension only).

we are waiting to see the certificates, but in both instances the work has been signed off by building control.

I will have a structural survey.

The sellers are not saying much about it or rather their solicitors and estate agent aren’t. On the property information forms they submitted they declared they had built a side extension but said ‘not applicable’ to having a building regs certificate for the work which has slightly rung alarm bells. But these do exist because building control have told me they do.

They have declared ‘no’ to the questions regarding any issues with obtaining insurance or unusually high premiums.

I really like the house and it could be a great home for us and I’m trying to take a balanced view.

My thinking is that if the building regs certificate is ok as expected and the survey is ok then there can’t be much to worry about?

I suppose what worries me is why you would underpin an extension 8 years later - it must have been subsidence?? I understand that sometimes an extension requires you to strengthen foundations but that would be done at the time of the building of the side extension presumably?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

thanks

canaldumidi

Get insurance quotes.

Enter all the details in a couple of comparison sites. I discovered recently (similar issue) that the sites link back to insurance companies' shared databases (CLUE?) and pre-fill some answers. In my case, 'Has the property ever suffered from subsidence?" and 'Has the property ever been underpinned?" both came back prefilled with 'Yes'.

Instead of the usual 30-40 quotes, I got 3. One a very reasonable premium (£250 ish) the other two were £800+.

Clicking through to the reasonable one's website, the questionaire was more detailed and included ""Is there a Certificate of Structural Adequacy" with answer pre-filled "yes."

In my case it was a conservatory that had been added with inadequate foundations, which was replaced, so I'm not too bothered as a) not the main property and b) seems to have been fixed properly and c) reasonable insurance exists.

My seller was very forthcoming about explaining this when asked.

In your case it's an extension which is a bit more worrying, but at least invetigate further.

I would goback to the sellers too and ask about the underpinning in August 21, specifically request:

* origial structural engineer's report

* if there was an insurance claim, documents of the claim and insurer's response

* builder's contract /Schedule of Works, showing what was done

* Certificate of Structural Adequacy

Slinky

Good grief, it's not like it's a dim and distant memory of it happening, sounds like they are being pretty evasive.

Our side extension was underpinned 27 years before we bought the house. Many insurance companies will be reluctant to quote even up to 25 years later.

davisaj22

It does sound like they are being evasive. I’ve heard from today that they had it done due to a crack appearing in a wall of the extension where it joins the original building. 

I’ve asked them if there is a certificate of structural adequacy / warranty for the work and who did it. 

I’m keen to not simply walk away but work through it. We will see.

canaldumidi

davisaj22 said:

It does sound like they are being evasive. I’ve heard from today that they had it done due to a crack appearing in a wall of the extension where it joins the original building. 

In other words the foundations were inadequate and the extension began to sink slightly and come away from the main house. Just like my conservatory above.

Have you done an insurance search yet?

davisaj22

I have, just as you recommended. I clicked through but there wasn’t any pre filled fields. I did two things using both go compare and compare the market -

1) said it has been underpinned and that it had a crack in an external wall. This is the actual information that we’ve given / documentation states and aligned to the criteria when obtaining a quote. This didn’t seem to increase the premium at all, but put the excess for subsidence up to £1000 which is fine.

2) then edited the quote and stated it had been underpinned due to subsidence. This required additional documentation to be submitted to the insurance company and the cheapest quote was £350. The number of quotes dramatically dropped although several mainstream insurers were still available. There was no pre-filled fields when I clicked through.