House purchase - garage was underpinned

[blade7]

valiant said:

He has to declare it anyway when he fills in the property information form (ta10??) which specifically asks if the property has been underpinned.

Considering this is one of the first things you do after you accept an offer, the seller is on a hiding to nothing trying to conceal it.

Assuming they are still around or have the means to pay if someone sues them. Likewise with insurance, insurers will accept premiums in good faith, stick in a big claim and they'll look for a valid reason to deny it.

[p1doc]

sounds dodgey changing from garage to house underpinned-avoid wuld be my advice

[mikeiow]

p1doc said:

sounds dodgey changing from garage to house underpinned-avoid wuld be my advice

^^^^
this

Clearly were trying to hide something, sounds like a lot of potential pain you would be better off leaving to someone else...

[Rangeroverover]

Simpo Two said:

I hope you don't meet yourself coming the other way.

+1 You really are a nuclear grade bell end, so the buyer has spent on legals, surveys etc...........plonker

[HotJambalaya]

Also very firmly in the "its very dodgy camp"

By not telling you earlier, you've stuck in an offer of absolute top dollar, as you say, seeing off all rival bids. Those bids, and thus your bid wouldn't have been as high with this information. Deliberate or not, you are now at a price higher then you would have been had you known all of the above.

I think honestly you do have to reduce the price, how much by, and how you go about it is a determination you have to make, and possibly make partially on whether you think it was deliberate or simple oversight. -If the vendor has been there many years they may have totally forgotten about it, only realising when they got the paper work and saw the questions. Conversely they may have known all along and counted on a prospective purchaser being too far along in the process to wriggle out. Your call....