House purchase - garage was underpinned

[Fat hippo]

Hi All,

As title suggests, a house that i've put an offer on a 1930s house in the Greater London/Kent area.
Just been informed that the garage was underpinned circa 25 years ago.

On the viewings it was pointed out that the garage was a relatively recent addition but nothing was memtioned as to why.
It now appears to be the case that it may have replaced an older garage at the time the underpinning was done or it could have been partially rebuult at the time of underpinning.

The house is detached, dated (probate), and the garage is attached to the side of the house.

I'm concerned about whether this is something that could also affect the house and also whether it is sensible to continue with the purchase given that it may be difficult to re-sell in the future and also the insurance may be difficult/expensive to adequately cover.

FWIW I have a bank valuation survey booked (i think its next week) so I will onform them of this, and I was planning on getting a structural surveyor to do a structural survey afterwards anyway.

Am I mad proceeding and is there anything else that I should consider?

Cheers

[Fat hippo]

megaphone said:

OP how do you know the garage has suffered from subsidence? Is it documented anywhere? Who told you?

Thanks to everyone for responses thus far.
The agent called on Thursday to chase on the valuation survey and then told me that the buyer had just, that morning, imformed them of underpinning and re-building of the garage.

That night I did a search if the local council building control notices and saw that, according to the coumcil, the garage was re-built, and the flank wall of the house was underpinned.

I then called the bank to let them know, ahead of the valuation survey which is scheduled for this coming week, have informed my solicitors who will be asking for further details and called the estate agent tot ell them that the seller may have forgotten to mention that the house was underpinned rather than the garage.

The agent then came back to me to confirm that I was right.

We have a structural surveyor that we have previoulsy used and we have lined him up for an inspection once we have comments/requests from the bank and also some firther detail from the seller.

I like the house, but what worries me is that I have ofered over the odds and outbid other potential buyers without being informed of all relevant information that Inshould consider ehen making an offer.

If I lose my job, or become ill and need to sell then this history will surely turn future prospective buyers off. That's what i'm worried about, along with restrictions for extensions and possible liability to neighbouring properties.

The owner has said, so far, that it was considered that a tree (subsequently removed) was a 'contributing' factor. This seems a bit vague to me and given the sellers have not been forthcoming with disclosure so far i've got reservations