Subsidence

[Sue]

I made the mistake of involving my insurance company when cracks started appearing.

After a period of monitoring, they said it was subsidence due to problems with the drains, which supposedly they fixed.

However the premiums were indeed hiked up massively, and I can do nothing about it because other insurance companies always ask about subsidence, and as soon as I say there's been a problem they won't go any further.

In future I'd just sort it myself/with a builder unless it was really really bad. :(

Hindsight is a wonderful thing .....

[neilly1973]

everywhere in SE london - esp east dulwich moves - it's a fact. i'm yet to see a place that doesn't slope slightly or the walls are straight. i wouldn't let it put you off... i still went ahead. the insurance is a minor issue - I got mine through norwich union.

[green & red]

For what its worth, we had a terrible experience with MH associates -

[cella]

We have been told that the olive tree is causing the cracks in ours. They insist on chopping it down which is very upsetting. Also no replacement is factored in which means we are out of pocket by the time a new mature tree is bought as well as the excess premium. Has anyone else had a similar experience with an insurance company?

[Cyclemonkey]

Ha Ha. Our survey identifed "limied areas of penetrating damp" in one room and suggested strongly we get the vendor to do remedial work. This held up things for a while until we decided to jsut go and meet the vendor and talk it out. Turned out it was a small area of mildew on the paintwork at the top of a window frame due to winter condensation. (the vendor didn't have the trickle vents for the double glazing open)

[KestonKid]

We had some cracking at the front of the house. We called in our insurance company who, after a year's worth of test pits, attributed it to the roots of the council's flowering cherry tree on the pavement outside. The cracks were then repaired, without any need for underpinning, and the rooms redecorated. After paying up, the inurance company then recovered the greater part of their costs from the council. Job done. But after that we found it difficult to insure our house. We eventually managed it, albeit with a policy costing twice as much as before. So you win some, you lose some....

[Sue]

cella Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> We have been told that the olive tree is causing

> the cracks in ours. They insist on chopping it

> down which is very upsetting. Also no replacement

> is factored in which means we are out of pocket by

> the time a new mature tree is bought as well as

> the excess premium. Has anyone else had a similar

> experience with an insurance company?

Sorry to be dim, but if a mature tree has been causing cracks, is it a good idea to replace it with another one?

And surely that would invalidate your future insurance?

[chuff]

cella, we had to have all of our box hedges removed from the front garden due to some cracking on the front bay window. They took them out and told us we couldn't plant anything else, we can only have plants or trees in pots or planters.

[cella]

Thanks Chuff. We just can't plant the same genus in the same spot so we will get something else suitable. It's just that next door who also have cracks were told to cut down their Apple tree so, apart from the emotional upset (the tree was my mothers originally) there is a part of me that thinks they are just covering themselves by cutting this one down too.

[Sue]

chuff Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> cella, we had to have all of our box hedges

> removed from the front garden due to some cracking

> on the front bay window. They took them out and

> told us we couldn't plant anything else, we can

> only have plants or trees in pots or planters.

I also had to remove shrubs from my front garden years ago, which was a shame because they were lovely :(

There was differential movement between the bay and the rest of the house, which if memory serves the insurance company said the shrubs had contributed to, and I was also told I couldn't plant anything else.

I too now have to have just plants in pots.

[chuff]

We had an arboriculturalist come to assess the surrounding trees and shrubs and he informed us that only the large trees right next to the house would cause any damage. The insurance company refused to accept this though and we were told that unless we removed them, then we wouldn't be insured!

The council trees to the side of the house however remained and are still causing a lot of trouble. It's much easier to bully your policy holders than to take on southwark council's tree department. We have ash trees, very fast growing, significantly younger than the house and all within 6 feet of the side of the property. There are better species of tree to plant supposedly but I've given up on anything ever changing.

[scotlander]

I am in nunhead and tried several insurance companies and none would cover subsidence without even mentioning trees.

Any know an insurance company that does cover it in SE15?

[Lowlander]

Try a broker like Adrian Flux - you'll have to use the old fashioned telephone, but they are very good and will find cover.

https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/

[joom]

For any work undertaken to correct cracking and subsidence there should be guarantee docs. If work has been done, move in! The work on our house was a 2.5yrs process. Underpinning is not always needed if trees have been removed and the ground has resettled before repairs have taken place.

[Drxyster]

Tried Adrian Flux, but having waited over thirty minutes for them to answer the phone gave up.

[Drxyster]

Having had our home underpinned in 1992, we have had problems with buildings insurance ever since.

A previous EDF member suggested getting a structural engineers report on the property, which we did.

Having a good bill of health from the structural engineer, I contacted about six different brokers and insurance companies emailing them the structural engineers report.

The broker who we decided upon details as follows -:

Ms Karen Landa

Commercial & General Insurance Services

Suite C10 Arena Business Centre

Nine Nimrod Way

Ferndown

Dorset

BH21 7SH Phone 0800 731 6242.

Our Insurance is with "Insurance Corporation" a subsidiary company of "Royal & Sun Alliance"

Hoping this proves helpful.

[sophiesofa]

We're buying a house with past subsidence. I found insurance through confused.com that was cheap. I can't remember the name, but there were two insurers willing to insure the house - both under ?200. In the end we've had to stick with their current insurer (only as we had a panic and had to arrange it on the day we exchanged - we foolishly didn't realise we needed it that day, so didnt have time to send in the underpinning docs etc.) and it was nearly 3 times more.

As a buyer I was intially a bit freaked out when we found out the property had been underpinned and worried about mortgages, insurance, if we were overpaying and future sell ability. It's just very common in the south. The firstly house we were going to buy fell through, and the one we are buying both have been underpinned, admittedly a long time ago.