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Certificate of structural adequacy

GDB2222
GDB2222 Posts: 26,941 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
in House buying, renting & selling

The surveyor of a house we are buying has suggested we hire a structural engineer to provide a Certificate of structural adequacy.

The house has been underpinned in the past, but the surveyor did not comment on any signs of current subsidence. Is this normal to get a certificate?

No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
«1

Comments

  • Annemos
    Annemos Posts: 1,153 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 14 April at 12:14PM

    Good morning. The only comment I can add, is that when we have a Subsidence Claim that is handled by an Insurance Company. Then the Loss Adjusting Company and their Structural Engineer, should be providing the Homeowner with the CSA. This contains what the cause of the Subsidence was, what remedy was carried out by the Insurance Company to remove the cause, plus a list of repairs and/or structural work carried out.

    So I think you need to ask the Homeowner if they did the Underpinning through an Insurance Claim, as they may have the CSA.

    If they did it without an Insurance Company, I do not know how an old Underpinning can be assessed for quality. Hopefully others can comment.

    Edit…. if there is no available documentation at all about the Underpinning, then I suppose a full Structural Survey will assess if there is still any cracking going on, or of it looks as if any movement has ceased. And confirm that the property is now stable, both for a mortgage application and also Insurance Cover. A qualified Structural Engineer may have more experience to assess current and past Subsidence issues, than a Surveyor, perhaps.

    Another Edit. It is more difficult to get Insurance Cover if a home has had Subsidence and/or been underpinned in the past. So you would possibly need a Structural Survey done for Insurance purposes, if there is no CSA.

  • GDB2222
    GDB2222 Posts: 26,941 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper

    We had a full structural survey done.

    No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
  • user1977
    user1977 Posts: 19,488 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper

    Sounds a bit odd if there's no particular cause for concern.

    Underpinned properties tend to get people twitchy, but there is the argument that it's probably more stable than a similar property which hasn't (yet) been underpinned.

  • Bigphil1474
    Bigphil1474 Posts: 4,033 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper

    If you mean a Level 3 house survey, it' not really a full structural survey. As Annemos says, in the absence of nay certification, I would ask the vendors what documentation they have, and if the answer is none, get a structural engineer to have a look. RICS surveyors are pretty good, but they can't provide the answers. Just to add, when we had subsidence in our house in 2010 (that didn't require underpinning), we still got a lengthy report saying what had been done and a certificate to say the house was sorted. We gave those to our buyers when we sold in 2024.

  • TroubledTarts
    TroubledTarts Posts: 541 Forumite
    500 Posts First Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper

    Sounds like you have decided to move out of your home of 30 years into an interesting property for your downsize.

    Did you want this type of hassle and upkeep of a building with issues?

  • Annemos
    Annemos Posts: 1,153 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper
    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81962452#Comment_81962452

    When I was looking into all this, I came across discussions… that if a property has not been competely underpinned (i.e. a partial underpinning), then there may be a concern that the non-underpinned part can move at a different rate to the underpinned part. Causing an issue between the two parts of the building.

  • GDB2222
    GDB2222 Posts: 26,941 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper

    We have just been gazumped. Seller exchanged with other buyer today. So, it seems we’re staying put. :)

    No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
  • TroubledTarts
    TroubledTarts Posts: 541 Forumite
    500 Posts First Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 16 April at 8:33PM

    To get to exchange can take 8-12 weeks how long ago was your survey.

    Sounds very fishy did the estate agent and buyer allow two buyers to progress with searches and get to point of exchange.

    Surely you would have had to pull out of your process for another buyer to get that far and exchange?

  • GDB2222
    GDB2222 Posts: 26,941 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81966176#Comment_81966176

    We were informed mid morning that the seller had issued a second contract, and later the same day that they had exchanged. I don’t know anything about the other buyers, but I assume they were buying without a mortgage and decided to take a punt. Even though they paid more than I had offered, I don’t think they overpaid!

    Possibly the seller’s solicitor was in breach of the SRA code, as we were informed rather late about the second contract?

    No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
  • TroubledTarts
    TroubledTarts Posts: 541 Forumite
    500 Posts First Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper

    Yeah that does sound extremely fishy and against some code of conduct and potential law

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