Subsidence

[GravyMonster]

Has anyone been through the process of claiming from house insurance due to subsidence?

Back story
We bought our house in 2007. It was built in 2001. The previous owner had claimed from his own insurance for subsidence at the rear of the house in 2004 and the rear brickwork of the house had ties installed to solve the problem. (Note: this is from memory. I have full copies of the paperwork at home including summaries of all the work done so I may be missing the technical detail).

This was blamed on the bushes planted alongside the house by the home builder (yet it obviously was nothing to do with this) so said bushes were dug up and the ground alongside the house has been left as bare ground since. The house had been fine since that point.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I notice the main bedroom door had started rubbing on the door frame. I put this down to the heat and the door expanding and thought nothing of it. This weekend I then noticed that the cycle path running next to the house had sunk to the point where there was a 1" step in the path up the where a BT access cover was. Putting two and two together I looked at the front of the house and saw a crack running up from the ground to the front window of the house, zig-zagging through the mortar. There is only 1 split brick at the base of the crack at ground level. The crack is about 3mm at the bottom, narrowing to a hair line crack at the top. I then checked the opposite interior wall and saw a crack hidden by a radiator in roughly the same place. There is also some hairline cracks around the window in the bedroom above this crack, although nothing on the exterior.

tl;dr
Big crack in front wall under window, 1 split brick, other cracks go through mortar, also some interior cracks.

I have called my home insurer this morning (Co-op) and informed them of the situation and I'm currently waiting on a call back from their subsidence handling dept. All I know at this point is my excess is £1k which would be payable to the contractor assigned by the insurer on completion of the work.

So, back to the point of the thread, has anyone been through the process of claiming for subsidence? How long did it take to get resolved? What work was involved? Did you have a fight on your hands getting it done to a good standard?

I'll put some pics up later when I get home. Any help at this point would be great.

 

[PapaLazaru]

My previous place got subsidence. Seems it was just built on soft ground. One corner of the house had to be underpinned. Cost over £15k to fix and the place was a total ballache to sell because of it, even though the work was guaranteed. Had to pay it myself.

Your insurer will only consider paying out if they are fully aware of the previous work when you took out the policy.

 

[GravyMonster]

Ah yes, I did have that thought. However, I checked my policy and it states that subsidence should be declared if work to correct it was carried out on the property whilst in our ownership and in the last three years.

Neither of which is the case. I can see that being the sticking point though

 

[BigBoy]

If it was built in 2001 how long was the builders guarantee? all new builds come with some sort of satisfaction guarantee normally around 10 years some are a lot more though, my parents new house has a 20year no quibble policy from the builders.

 

[GinG]

If it was built in 2001 how long was the builders guarantee? all new builds come with some sort of satisfaction guarantee normally around 10 years some are a lot more though, my parents new house has a 20year no quibble policy from the builders.

Usually 10 years

 

[Maccapacca]

My neighbour has just spent 4 years resolving his, a large Oak tree was pulling his house over and wrecking the drains, the first thing an insurance company will do will be to monitor the building over time before they make a decision, thay won't take your word for it.

Be prepared for a long wait they won't run round and underpin your house tomorrow they are more likely to try and find out what's causing it and remove it then repair.

 

[Hyburnate]

My neighbour has just spent 4 years resolving his, a large Oak tree was pulling his house over and wrecking the drains, the first thing an insurance company will do will be to monitor the building over time before they make a decision, thay won't take your word for it.

Be prepared for a long wait they won't run round and underpin your house tomorrow they are more likely to try and find out what's causing it and remove it then repair.

It makes sense really... If you were shelling out to fix something you'd want to make sure it doesn't come back again... However as it's happened before and it's happened again it probably will...

 

[Orch]

Your insurer will only consider paying out if they are fully aware of the previous work when you took out the policy.

This. I'd be checking the proposal form to see what exactly what was declared when you took the policy out.