Buyer not disclosed underpinning

jonnydeppiwish!

Magik01 said:

I have an estate agent as a friend who has informed me that if a property has been underpinned it loses roughly 20% of its market value.

From my initial research, I found several articles that said that under Consumer Protection Against Unfair Trading Regulations (CPR’s), vendors are obliged ' to inform their estate agent – and any potential buyer - of material information that may affect an average consumer’s transactional decision, not only to buy a property but even “an omission that may affect a potential buyer’s decision to view a property'

Is this not correct?

Op, if you don’t know it’s been underpinned, then you can’t tell any future purchaser that it’s been underpinned.

youth_leader

I do feel for you, buyer beware is dreadful. 

I bought this bungalow in March 2021 - by November 2021 I learnt that every floor needed replacing.  Wet rot, dry rot, woodworm and excessive condensation affecting all of the floors, black with sugar like mould.  Cost me every penny of the equity I had made selling my house - and my beloved sheltie died with a fungus in his nose.  I'd liked the woman and invited her to stay if she returned to the area so I had her number and I queried why I hadn't received any documents about the floors - she swore blind she had left the 'floor surveys' for me.  Liar liar, house on fire!

Doozergirl

Magik01 said:

I have an estate agent as a friend who has informed me that if a property has been underpinned it loses roughly 20% of its market value.

From my initial research, I found several articles that said that under Consumer Protection Against Unfair Trading Regulations (CPR’s), vendors are obliged ' to inform their estate agent – and any potential buyer - of material information that may affect an average consumer’s transactional decision, not only to buy a property but even “an omission that may affect a potential buyer’s decision to view a property'

Is this not correct?

Your estate agent friend doesn't appear to know the difference between subsidence and underpinning.  

Underpinning can be carried out for reasons other than subsidence, for example, to build an extension and ensure it has foundations to meet the building regulations.   Or, it could be an isolated area like a bay window, which were built with even less in the way of foundations than the rest of the property they belonged to.  

If the question asked was 'does your house have foundations?'  what would people prefer the answer to be; yes or no?  Because that's what we're talking about.   People freaking out because their house has foundations.  

Do you know why it was underpinned?  

Magik01

Going off the documents that we have found, it looks like it was underpinned at the front and side gables due to a collapsed drain and was an insurance claim job. It was all done properly by the looks of it and was signed off by the local council. It’s just the financial loss that will occur if we were to sell is the real kicker with this, and we wouldn’t have paid what we did if we had known the information prior. 

Magik01

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Magik01 said:

I have an estate agent as a friend who has informed me that if a property has been underpinned it loses roughly 20% of its market value.

From my initial research, I found several articles that said that under Consumer Protection Against Unfair Trading Regulations (CPR’s), vendors are obliged ' to inform their estate agent – and any potential buyer - of material information that may affect an average consumer’s transactional decision, not only to buy a property but even “an omission that may affect a potential buyer’s decision to view a property'

Is this not correct?

Op, if you don’t know it’s been underpinned, then you can’t tell any future purchaser that it’s been underpinned.

It has been underpinned. We know that now. 

theartfullodger

Magik01 said:

I have an estate agent as a friend who has informed me that if a property has been underpinned it loses roughly 20% of its market value.

...

Over the years I've bought/sold at least 15 properties.  And learned always to take whatever an agent tells you (about anything) with a big pinch of salt.

You know the old saw about how'd you tell if an agent is lying???

tooldle

I’ve bought and sold underpinned property. No impact to value and broke the ceiling price for the street at the time. In our case the front half of the house was underpinned. Most stable house in the street, sitting on a concrete raft rather than the shallow foundations of other houses in the street. 

EssexHebridean

OK - let's tackle the elephant in the room here shall we?

OP - did you have a survey? 

amanda_p

If the house has been underpinned you are unlikely to have more problems. Also your building insurance will not be sky high. Many houses sell now without reduction in price due to underpinning. The work has been done. Subsidence is far more common than it used to be and is dealt with very differently these days.

Magik01

EssexHebridean said:

OK - let's tackle the elephant in the room here shall we?

OP - did you have a survey? 

Yes, we had a full structural survey, didn’t find anything and said movement was historical, no mention of underpinning.