Old heave/subsidence issues - help please

Scaredy_Cat_3

Please can someone advise me? We bought this house a year ago, finding out at the last minute that the garage floor (not the house, although it is attached) had been built with poor quality shale. The previous owners produced reports stating 'sulphate attack on the concrete or possible poor workmanship and is unlikely to be subsidence related'.

We asked them to get their insurance company to look at it and they wrote a letter stating 'old heave movement which does not appear to be progressive' and 'likely to have been caused by chemical attack to the concrete from contaminated fill material'. As such they took no action, and like idiots we interpreted that as meaning no action required, no problem.

The local estate agent who sold us the property assured us it was a common feature on this estate and was well known, just down to the poor quality shale used at the time of construction. He convinced us it was ok to go ahead. But now I find I cannot get insurance quotes from anyone other than Halifax, who were already our insurers at the old house and continued to insure us here.

I am not happy in the property and want to sell within a couple of years, but don't know how to handle this as I think it will stop people buying. Although we were assured it is not an actual problem with the house, it is clearly a perceived problem for insurers etc. We were going to get the garage floor re-done, hoping that would make the problem go away, but I have just spoken to Halifax insurance and the non-specialist on the helpline said that even if we do, we will still have to declare it as having a history.

Any advice on how we can proceed? Do we have any come-back on anyone for this? If I had known how big a problem it was I would never have bought the place. I just want to be able to sell without problems - what do I need to do to ensure I can still sell?

Steve1981

Heave and subsidence are different, so you need to determin exactly what it is, unfortunatly even if you rectify the issue you will need to declare it the question is usually "has the home or surrounding area ever suffered from subsidence, heave or landslip".

More often than not the current insurer of the property will be the only one who will offer cover from the general insurance market, there are companies who specialise in properties that have suffered from movement though they can be expensive.

regarding where you stand legally, I honestly dont know - if you were aware of the situation but decided to proceed I dont know how you can complain. Did your surveyor doing the searches for you not pull it up? surely any advice given by a surveyor would outweigh that given by an estate agent trying to push a sale?

Scaredy_Cat_3

Steve, as they say, hindsight is 20/20!

You are right that they lump heave and subsidence together and although this appears to be non-progressive and really not a problem, it does have to be mentioned - and once you mention it they all run away screaming! I did contact a specialist insurer but they wanted a survey done before they would quote and I figured the cost of the survey would outweigh any savings I might make in switching to them from my current insurer.

The issue was raised on our mortgage valuation survey. The thing is, it alarmed us, but the estate agent made out (perhaps rightly) that the mortgage company were over-reacting and that it really wasn't a problem. He convinced us it was a feature of many houses on this estate and that the mortgage surveyor should have been aware of that. I'm sure you're right that we can't blame anyone but ourselves for this - but honestly if we had known it would be such an issue we would not have bought the place. The estate agent convinced us that it wasn't an issue, and since our current insurers said they were happy to insure under normal terms, we thought he was right, the mortgage company were over-reacting. It wasn't until we had been in a year and I wanted to shop around for insurance deals that I found out no-one would even quote.

Steve1981

you might a case against the agent then, its tricky as they havent failed to mention it, though misrepresentation of a material fact can make all the difference, eg if i tell you dave is a bit upset, when really dave has a gun and is going to shoot you - if you know a dave i have never met him promise

Scaredy_Cat_3

Steve :rotfl:

I suspect we can't do anything here. I don't think we got anything in writing from the estate agent - it was all done in a series of frantic phonecalls as it was very last minute and the completion date was fast approaching.

We have clearly made a major mistake. Don't get me wrong, the house is ok, I think this is more of a perceived problem for the insurers that an actual problem. It wouldn't bother me that much if we liked the house but as we don't it's just one more mark against it. My real concern, I suppose, is that it will make it difficult to sell. I just get so frustrated and think someone must be to blame... but with nothing in writing to prove the estate agent misled us, I guess we're the ones to blame.:(

Thanks for the advice, though.

Steve1981

it 'may' be a problem when selling, all it will probably mean is lenders might be a bit cautious.

you could always use the same estate agent as the people who sold to you, they have a proven track record in terms of being able to shift the property so you know they can do it.

Scaredy_Cat_3

:rotfl:

Funnily enough, someone else suggested that to me! Unfortunately I was singularly unimpressed with the estate agency and do not want to use them unless there is no alternative! Their customer service was appalling - and I was a prospective buyer!

We have never been happy with estate agents - until this time. The one who sold our old house was absolutely brilliant in terms of efficiency and professionalism. They are a small(ish) local agency and I would hope to use them again when we move.