View house that requires underpinning

Pat38493

Hi - would it be bonkers to view a house where the estate agent has already disclosed that it requires underpinning?

We ruled this house out of our house hunting after hearing this dreaded word, but then I googled it and it says that fixing underpinning costs "between 6K and 35K" which I have to say is a lot less than what I expected. 

I am aware there would be insurance issues, and I'm also thinking we would have to find out why the seller is not able to carry out the repairs themselves and do more research.

I guess what I'm asking is, if the house is in the perfect location for us and we think it could be our perfect house after all issues are fixed, is it worth doing the maths?  Also how much risk is involved i.e. can you get a quote for underpinning with a guaranteed maximum price?

The other thing that I thought about is - I assume you can't get buildings insurance on a house that requires underpinning?  However can you get insurance with exclusions while the work is being carried out so that you are at least insured if the house burns down or whatever before the work is complete?

I'm on the verge of still ruling out this house, but I just thought it might be worth doing a bit more research before writing it off.

Edit:  We would be buying without a mortgage, so the buying part wouldn't be an issue but I guess we might be concerned about being ablt to sell the house.  In theory this would be our "forever" house but nevertheless I wouldn't want to be stuck with an unsellable house.

FlorayG

Presumably you will get it very cheap because of the issues. Once the job is done it will be worth more but probably never as much as a house that hadn't needed this work, but then as you bought cheap you shouldn't be too worried about selling cheaper if you have to?

Albermarle

Perhaps the vendor can not afford £35K, or is maybe ill/too old to cope with all the disruption. Could be anyone of a myriad of reasons.
Did the EA say anything else, have they maybe seen a survey from a previous potential buyer?

eddddy

Underpinning is usually required following subsidence, and subsidence damage is almost always covered by buildings insurance.

Do you know why the current owners aren't making an insurance claim for this? Don't they have buildings insurance?


In case it's relevant, the current owners could usually start an insurance claim, then sell the house to you and you 'takeover' the insurance claim.


Buildings insurance will be an issue. If the building is currently insured, you might be able to continue with the current insurer. If it's not currently insured, that might be tougher. Maybe talk to some brokers about the options.

incus432

I would want to ask seriously why the owner has not claimed under insurance.  'Subsidence landheave and slip' is a standard cover, usually with an excess of £1000 whichj is tiny compared wwiutgh potential costs.   

The most important other question is what is the cause? - burst water main?, broken drain? poor foundations?  Some are easier to find and resolve than others.  Having been through it the disruption can be major.  Personally I wouldnt want to take it on.

FreeBear

incus432 said: The most important other question is what is the cause? - burst water main?, broken drain? poor foundations?  Some are easier to find and resolve than others.  Having been through it the disruption can be major.  Personally I wouldnt want to take it on.

There is a housing estate in the (I think) the Nottingham area where several houses are showing signs of subsidence. Underpinning may work for a little while, but isn't going to be a permanent fix. The reason being underlying disused coal mines that are slowly collapsing.

Pat38493

Albermarle said:

Perhaps the vendor can not afford £35K, or is maybe ill/too old to cope with all the disruption. Could be anyone of a myriad of reasons.
Did the EA say anything else, have they maybe seen a survey from a previous potential buyer?

The only conversation with the EA was with my wife and she ruled it out straight away.  I was wondering if it was worth making a few further inquiries and this would of course include trying to establish the reason why the current Vendor isn't fixing the problem.  I guess they didn't have buildings insurance otherwise they would have claimed, but certainly this would need further investigation.

To be honest I doubt my OH would go for this as it would become a full time job for about a year trying to get it sorted probably and the house might not be livable for some of that time.

Bigphil1474

OP, we had subsidence in our house about 15 years ago. Fortunately it was caused by a damage drain and water and didn't need underpinning. It did need about £20k's worth of work which was covered by the insurance, and our insurance premium was high for a good 6/7 years afterwards. We've since moved.

It was a lot of hassle getting the repairs done, we couldn't use the front of the house for nearly 2 weeks, but we sold the house last year and got market price typical for the area so the subsidence had no impact. Probably because it was clear there'd been no movement since 2010. We did make sure we kept all the relevant paperwork, particularly the certification from the insurers, and provided them to the surveyor and the buyer, who were all happy.

Personally, if the figures add up for you, the survey pans out, you are thinking of living there a good 10 or 15 years, and you are happy to put up with the building works, then there's no reason not to consider it IMO.

GDB2222

The work can be very intrusive, and the vendors may prefer not to be involved. Are they selling with the benefit of an insurance claim?

A house near us applied for planning consent to take down a tree. ISTR that they mentioned a repair cost due to the subsidence of £300k.  So, costs can vary a lot! 

forwardnotbackwards

Underpinning will scare away (like initially yourselves) 9/10 people. The property will become unsellable. But.... If you look at the price it's on for and what it could achieve. I would make an offer well below the asking price as a cash buyer. It will provide that extra money should the works not go according to plan.

lincroft1710

Do not buy without a structural engineer's report!


If you are seriously considering buying a house which you are told "needs underpinning", you need to know why. Subsidence issues can lead to at best "simple" underpinning, or at worst, total demolition of which I am aware of several cases.


Actually, save the cost of the SE report, do not buy!