Diesel

Found out by chance that the house I bought has been underpinned. Now confirmed that the vendor withheld the info, confirmed surveyor did not mention in survey, and checked the solicitor did not point it out to me after searches etc.

I am very unimpressed with this situation, after coughing up all those not inconsiderable professional fees, and now need to check if my buildings insurance is valid and the house re-sellable etc…

Does anyone know who’s ultimate responsibility it was to tell me?

Cheers

D

MattW

You may have redress with the vendor - they have to complete a questionaire which I believe asks this question. If you can prove they were aware and actually misled you, you could force them to buy back the house(worst case scenario).

I'm not qualified to answer, have you spoken to another solicitor?

The Zohan

Diesel

Was it a full structural survey or the std survey, the standard survey really just establishes the house is where they say it is and it is in 'one piece'. The structural one goes into a lot of detail, flow rates for the shi**ers, structure stuff all sors of things.

Drunken Bungle Whore

Not a solicitor but am selling a house and just filled in the vendors report yesterday - it specifically states on the front that if I witheld any information then the purchasers could sue me for compensation in the future.

Get a copy of the vendors report and a new solicitor! (as long as you're sure the vendor witheld the info rather than simply didn't know)

Diesel

Thanks for the quick response guys. I guess I should get a different solicitor if the current one bungled?

Surveyor missed lots of tricks but it was 'only' a £500 survey, and wasnt full structural. So would imagine they have more get out clauses than Lappland at Xmas!

Vendor was hassled to fill out the declaration form properly - I insisted solicitor hassle them cos of the extension and that the vendor couldnt just skip the planning question on that!!

Vendor was clearly living in the house during the upheaval of underpinning, so, even though she was a nice older lady we really got on with, she REALLY shouldnt have withheld that.

D

Drunken Bungle Whore

I'd say you have a pretty good case to go for it. The form I filled in yesterday was very clear that I has to do it properly or else I could get sued - scared the **** outta me!

Would depend on whether your solicitor is amenable to the fact they may have screwed up - there must be some sort of solicitors ombudsman or something where you could get advice....

MattN

When I had my homebuyer survey done it said that the surveyor couldn't be held responsible for wrong/missing info.

it's pretty standard these days as it's so easy to sue someone.

I'm selling now and have a questionaire to fill in, I'll see what that says.

ProperCharlie

Loads of houses built on clay soil have been underpinned - i don't think it should lead to any problems with insurance unless the job has been bodged.

MarkO

I was going to say the same thing - if it's been underpinned, then you shouldn't really have any problems, as it's probably more secure than most houses which haven't been! If any insurer gives you hassle about it, just go elsewhere. People are becoming less paranoid about subsidance and underpinning these days - but it's a UK thing; there's far less concern about it in the rest of Europe. The brits take it too seriously.

As for suing a surveyor, don't hold your hopes out. We had a full survey on our first house, and the surveyor missed the fact that the roof needed new purlins (due to the slate tiles having been replaced with concrete ones, but no restrengthening work was done). All in, the work cost about 12 grand but we had no redress on the surveyor, even after speaking to a solicitor. The surveyor's smallprint is so tight that basically it amounts to "if we miss anything, or get anything wrong, it ain't our fault - it's you who's shafted". [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

chockymonster

I succesfully sued my surveyors when they missed a damp problem caused by poor construction.

I'd only had a homebuyers survey, but there were so many mistakes in the survey that they didn't have a leg to stand on! They paid for the remedial work to be done, replastering, redecoration of the 2 affected rooms and replacment of the bathroom suite.

V5

Shi!t MarkO, really didn't need to see cos we've just received the Homebuyer's Report on what we're hoping's gonna be our first house!

MarkO

Sorry mate. Mind you, that was an insignificant issue when you compare it to the saga that occurred involving the builder who did the work. Perhaps I'll post the story one day.

TBH, don't worry too much. The survey doesn't prove anything, but it's a useful guide. In 99.99999% of cases the survey will find everything that's bad, it's rare they'll miss something serious. We were just unlucky, that's all.

Mind you, it's made us fairly pragmatic about spending money on full structural surveys now. We tend to get them for older properties, but only really as a guide for us to what might need spending on the building, rather than as any particular guarantee about the state of the property and any effect that might have on the price we pay....

V5

Really don't think I wanna know!

Mind you, once we're in and ok the ghoul in me will prolly surface and wanna hear!

ChrisB

Him

MarkO

Yes, him, Chris.

V5 - Let's just say that the nickname by which I refer to that particular builder these days is 'psycho-builder.

Diesel

Thanks again guys. Mark I think you have a point as I am not actually too concerned that it now has massive l a r g e foundations! House is solid as a rock - this was done in 1983 after all. It's just resale and insurance that concerns me.

I'll mail a progress report as I work it out!

Re the concrete tiles in place of slate, been there too! First flat, just had a basic valuation & got caught out when I went on the roof one day and saw it was like a wavey sea! (Still saved the 'wasted' homebuyer survey no-recourse on me mate fee ) £7k split 3 ways was less harsh than your 12k & a psycho to boot!

I think the only solution to these woes is to DIY and check history yourself...but then one doesnt learn without being burnt...

David Lock

Not qualified but..... Key question seems to be was little old lady specifically asked about underpinning? If she wasn't asked then I wouldn't think she is under any obligation to comment. You need to see "questions and answers" report but I would have thought that solicitor would have sent this to you already. I completed one recently for a sale but don't actually recall a question about underpinning. I don't think searches would have shown this up.
Of course the other side of the coin is that if it hadn't been underpinned then you might have just bought a house that started cracking seriously in a couple of years. Why don't you have a chat with the surveyor and ask about the implications of all this as he might put your mind at rest. What sort of age is property? I think underpinning on an older place is more acceptable than on a newish property. David

PS. If you do talk to surveyor perhaps you could ask if you should be expecting some sort of warranty/guarantee from the folk that did the underpinning. This might help for buildings insurance. Or ask solicitor to investigate this for you.

Edited to add PS.

[Edited by David Lock - 6/12/2003 1:04:55 PM]