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The current owners have had the house for 6 years and it wasn't done in their time. They don't have the documents to say the work has been done but know that it has been. Should I be suspicious of that?
The other thing is this is a mid terrace and I can't believe the one I'm looking to buy would have been the only one in that block to receive the treatment. I'm going to speak to the neighbours tomorrow and ask them as they've been there for 40 years hopefully they shed some light on this.
spenceey-
They don't have the documents to say the work has been done but know that it has been. Should I be suspicious of that?
I'm not sure. Lots of people are bad at paperwork. I can't see what paperwork would make things worse so I can't see a reason to hide it but I'm probably being naive.
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The current owners have had the house for 6 years and it wasn't done in their time. They don't have the documents to say the work has been done but know that it has been. Should I be suspicious of that?
Wary. Our seller had all the documents - except the Building Control sign off but that was in the property searches so that's OK.
As before, if you can find out exactly what was done and why that's a fair start. If the documentation that describes what was done is missing, then you are a bit stuck.
We were supplied with:
- Warranty for the work (expired 2013)
- Engineers initial report from monitoring works carried out 1988-1991 (how much movement, what will happen if ignored, and what is causing the movement)
- Design specification for remedial works
- Tender documentation for contractors
Because I do generally technical work, I could process this and understand it. And this allowed us to view the information from our survey through a new lens.
I can't believe the one I'm looking to buy would have been the only one in that block to receive the treatment.
Depends on the street and reason for subsidence. You can cause subsidence by have a big fuck off tree in your back garden, or by having a waste pipe that constantly leaks. It can be limited to a single building. But there are are streets where every place will have been affected in some way due to a dramatic change in the water table. The 'why' is really important as you can then see if the reason for subsidence has been dealt with (pipes), managed (trees) or still lurking (dry clay soil due to water table changes).
As you seem to be able to generate a fair BI quote for the postcode, that might indicate that the issue was specific to the property.
- Warranty for the work (expired 2013)
jellybaby
Howard
@spenceey will need to know what was done when and why to get the insurance quotes.
I'm of the opinion that properties have histories. The paperwork is often incomplete. There will be things in the past that aren't ideal. As long as it doesn't have a material impact on you when you are living in it then it doesn't matter.
Underpinning is a bit of a mixed bag. In some streets it is good as it means that property has been fixed (assuming it was done right) which is better than the one next door that will need to be done one day. The when can be important too. If it was 30 years ago it is ancient history IMHO, last year not so much.
It's been almost a decade since I bought or sold but I thought underpinned or not was in the property information pack so it seems odd to have come up so late.