Viewed Property with Subsidence – Worth the Risk?

FreeBear

Lets_fly said:

That protection separating ground floor and first screams "non-standard" construction. If it is a precast concrete house, you probably want to look for something else. With all that cracking, and as an FTB, leave well alone. It is going to be a money pit that will eat up all your savings, and then some more.

Section62

Lets_fly said:

They have reduced the asking price by just  5% . Its  on market for 575K. Recent sales in that road are around 600k. Actually the seller could not pay mortgage so now the bank or some financial company want to sell it. 

So it is a reposession as well?

£25k off is 'needs a little redecoration' - for the state that property is in externally then like Albermarle, I'd expect something around £100k below normal for similar properties in the street.

Did the owner not have insurance cover?

donutandbeer

MIL had to underpin her 6 bed victoria terraced house when having a back and side return extension done. The house definitely didn’t look as bad as this one and the underpinning costed about 80k. This was about 5 years ago in SE London. 

She didn’t have any problem selling it afterwards though.

saganaki20

For the love of God… run!!! 

Just don’t, don’t even think about it. This is only for the most experienced of folk with some very deep pockets. 

HobgoblinBT

Ask your Compare the Market for an insurance quote  including all the relevant subsidence details (other insurance aggregators are available) and then use the response to assist in making up your mind.  

x44

Run away as fast you can...and keep running!

That property is a hopeless case - is now a total demolition and rebuild case with proper modern foundations.

I've also seen an underpinning gone wrong resulting in the whole place havign to be demolished - which actually should have been what was done in the first place.

Emmia

It's a hard no, especially given the neighbour insight and the lack of a serious price reduction.

Lets_fly

Albermarle said:

Lets_fly said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Lets_fly said:

My questions are:

• Is it worth taking the risk if the price and location are excellent?

• Are these kinds of issues reasonably fixable?

• Would this affect insurance, resale value, or mortgage approval?

Would love to hear from anyone who’s dealt with something similar or has advice.

If this subsidence could be resolved easily, why haven't the vendors resolved it prior to sale?

I suspect you would be unable to obtain buildings insurance, certainly you won't obtain insurance to cover the subsidence as a pre-existing issue.  You will need to pay for the subsidence to be resolved yourselves, and put up with all the hassle.

Any future buyer will review the history of subsidence and ask the same questions you are asking and will take into account in their assessment of the value.

The mortgage will be subject to the value of the property, which must be impacted by the subsidence that has occurred.  In fact, with all this subsidence, why do you even need a mortgage?  Surely, the house is available to purchase at a token value that you can pay cash?

They have reduced the asking price by just  5% . Its  on market for 575K. Recent sales in that road are around 600k. Actually the seller could not pay mortgage so now the bank or some financial company want to sell it. 

because it’s in a premium location and priced quite low for the area.

When you said that and looking at the state of the place, I was assuming it was more like £100K less than similar properties.

I'm hoping they might give it for around 500k. But the question I had was, is it worth even considering this property with all this issues. i keep hearing all of London is on clay and this has shown subsidence effect on the property and just plastering the cracks on the walls will fix it.

jimbog

Lets_fly said:

Albermarle said:

Lets_fly said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Lets_fly said:

My questions are:

• Is it worth taking the risk if the price and location are excellent?

• Are these kinds of issues reasonably fixable?

• Would this affect insurance, resale value, or mortgage approval?

Would love to hear from anyone who’s dealt with something similar or has advice.

If this subsidence could be resolved easily, why haven't the vendors resolved it prior to sale?

I suspect you would be unable to obtain buildings insurance, certainly you won't obtain insurance to cover the subsidence as a pre-existing issue.  You will need to pay for the subsidence to be resolved yourselves, and put up with all the hassle.

Any future buyer will review the history of subsidence and ask the same questions you are asking and will take into account in their assessment of the value.

The mortgage will be subject to the value of the property, which must be impacted by the subsidence that has occurred.  In fact, with all this subsidence, why do you even need a mortgage?  Surely, the house is available to purchase at a token value that you can pay cash?

They have reduced the asking price by just  5% . Its  on market for 575K. Recent sales in that road are around 600k. Actually the seller could not pay mortgage so now the bank or some financial company want to sell it. 

because it’s in a premium location and priced quite low for the area.

When you said that and looking at the state of the place, I was assuming it was more like £100K less than similar properties.

I'm hoping they might give it for around 500k. But the question I had was, is it worth even considering this property with all this issues. i keep hearing all of London is on clay and this has shown subsidence effect on the property and just plastering the cracks on the walls will fix it.

Just plastering the cracks won’t ‘fix it’ it would only hide it. The answer to your question has been given many times. 

Why this particular house? Aren’t there other houses in the London area to spend half a million on that are subsidence free?

Emmia

Lets_fly said:

Albermarle said:

Lets_fly said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Lets_fly said:

My questions are:

• Is it worth taking the risk if the price and location are excellent?

• Are these kinds of issues reasonably fixable?

• Would this affect insurance, resale value, or mortgage approval?

Would love to hear from anyone who’s dealt with something similar or has advice.

If this subsidence could be resolved easily, why haven't the vendors resolved it prior to sale?

I suspect you would be unable to obtain buildings insurance, certainly you won't obtain insurance to cover the subsidence as a pre-existing issue.  You will need to pay for the subsidence to be resolved yourselves, and put up with all the hassle.

Any future buyer will review the history of subsidence and ask the same questions you are asking and will take into account in their assessment of the value.

The mortgage will be subject to the value of the property, which must be impacted by the subsidence that has occurred.  In fact, with all this subsidence, why do you even need a mortgage?  Surely, the house is available to purchase at a token value that you can pay cash?

They have reduced the asking price by just  5% . Its  on market for 575K. Recent sales in that road are around 600k. Actually the seller could not pay mortgage so now the bank or some financial company want to sell it. 

because it’s in a premium location and priced quite low for the area.

When you said that and looking at the state of the place, I was assuming it was more like £100K less than similar properties.

I'm hoping they might give it for around 500k. But the question I had was, is it worth even considering this property with all this issues. i keep hearing all of London is on clay and this has shown subsidence effect on the property and just plastering the cracks on the walls will fix it.

You could plaster over the cracks, but they'd reappear, probably pretty quickly - and it doesn't fix the underlying issue.