Underpinning indicated on Property Information Form - Mistake?

Maffy52

I am buying a house built 4 years ago by Barratt homes with a 10 year NHBC guarantee.

It is being sold by a different developer, as the house was sold to them as a part-exchange for a new house.

I have received the property information form (TA6) from the previous owners (who bought it as a new build).

Section 5.1 of TA6 asks 'does the house benefit from any guarantees or warranties?'

The original owners has ticked YES for every box, including UNDERPINNING (see below).

I assume this is a mistake, as the house has an NHBC 10 year guarantee, therefore the sellers have assumed EVERYTHING is guaranteed. 

Any suggestions what I should do about this? is it possible a 4 year old house could have had underpinning work?

user1977

Possible, but incredibly unlikely. Aren't there more relevant questions to disclose whether there has been any underpinning e.g. the one about buildings insurance claims? Also - that question says they've to supply copies of the guarantees. So you look at what they've produced. Or just ask them if they've made daft mistakes in answering the questions.

stuart45

Maffy52 said:

I assume this is a mistake, as the house has an NHBC 10 year guarantee, therefore the sellers have assumed EVERYTHING is guaranteed. 

Any suggestions what I should do about this? is it possible a 4 year old house could have had underpinning work?

I'd say that they've done what you suspect. All of those types of work you would expect to have a warranty for. Even though some of the new builds aren't of the highest quality, even the worst wouldn't have been damp proofed, underpinned, re-roofed,  rewired etc.

Maffy52

user1977 said:

Possible, but incredibly unlikely. Aren't there more relevant questions to disclose whether there has been any underpinning e.g. the one about buildings insurance claims? Also - that question says they've to supply copies of the guarantees. So you look at what they've produced. Or just ask them if they've made daft mistakes in answering the questions.

thanks for your reply. I must admit that even if the seller made a mistake filling in the form, their solicitor should have picked it up and queried it. If it was a mistake, then it should have been corrected.

I have searched the local authority building control register and there is no application for building control with respect to this property (but it a new build house so perhaps NHBC handled it?)

Is there a way to search whether an insurance claim has been made against a property?

user1977

You're overthinking this, just query whether they've made a mistake with that question. The answer is almost certainly yes.

No, there is no public database of insurance claims.

As for the local authority building control register, bear in mind that the original build would (probably) predate the postal addresses being allocated, so you'd be looking for whatever the builders' development was originally called and the relevant plot number. But shouldn't be any need for you to be doing this sort of research.

stuart45

user1977 said:

You're overthinking this, just query whether they've made a mistake with that question. The answer is almost certainly yes.

This is the most likely scenario.

stuart45

The central heating won't be covered by the NHBC in years 3-10.

Herzlos

Just so I understand; you're treating the underpinning warranty to mean that underpinning work has been done and is warrantied. But presumably the seller has filled it in to mean that a warranty will cover underpinning?

Given there's no n/a option to indicate that theres no underpinning and thus no warranty on it, I'm unsure how they'd be expected to fill it in. 

As it's a new build still under NHBC it's unlikely that underpinning was required, but I suspect the only way you'd find out is if you asked some of the neighbours if they remember any such work happening. 

Maffy52

user1977 said:

You're overthinking this, just query whether they've made a mistake with that question. The answer is almost certainly yes.

Yes, you are right. However, as this property is being sold with 'limited title' by a developer (who has purchased the property as a part exchange for a new home).
I do not have recourse back to the original owners to query their response. The solicitors for the developer simply say, to the best of their knowledge it is most likely an error. But that it is up to me to make my own investigations to satisfy myself about the condition of the property.

I do notice on the rest of the form the original sellers sections 4.1 and 6.5 they state that no building work or insurance claims have been made!

Maffy52

Herzlos said:

Just so I understand; you're treating the underpinning warranty to mean that underpinning work has been done and is warrantied. But presumably the seller has filled it in to mean that a warranty will cover underpinning?

Given there's no n/a option to indicate that theres no underpinning and thus no warranty on it, I'm unsure how they'd be expected to fill it in. 

As it's a new build still under NHBC it's unlikely that underpinning was required, but I suspect the only way you'd find out is if you asked some of the neighbours if they remember any such work happening. 

Yes, you are exactly right. It is fundamentally ambiguous between having had underpinning work and being covered for it by the NHBC warranty. This is where the confusion arises.

Maffy52

Herzlos said:

Just so I understand; you're treating the underpinning warranty to mean that underpinning work has been done and is warrantied. But presumably the seller has filled it in to mean that a warranty will cover underpinning?

Given there's no n/a option to indicate that theres no underpinning and thus no warranty on it, I'm unsure how they'd be expected to fill it in. 

As it's a new build still under NHBC it's unlikely that underpinning was required, but I suspect the only way you'd find out is if you asked some of the neighbours if they remember any such work happening. 

Yes, you are right there is some ambiguity about how to answer these questions if you have an NHBC warranty. But I think they should have just said YES to the first 5.1(a), and NO to the rest. As I don't think the NHBC covers central heating, as someone stated above. Sine I can't ask the original owners, I am just left with trying to think it out myself....not ideal...