If your home has subsided or been underpinned, you may need specialist underpinning insurance to protect your property.
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If your home’s subsided or been underpinned, then it’s likely that you’ll struggle to find a standard home insurance policy. You may need underpinned house insurance.
Houses are underpinned to strengthen the foundations and make them more secure.
Most houses are underpinned due to subsidence, which is when the ground underneath a house is moving or sinking. The factors that affect the risk of subsidence include:
The type of soil under your home |
Water damage caused by leaking drains |
Trees growing close to your home |
The age of your home |
The signs of subsidence can include:
Deep, wide cracks in the walls, outside and inside |
Cracks around windows and door which aren’t linked to natural house settlement |
Cracks that are expanding |
Rippling wallpaper not linked to damp |
Doors and windows sticking due to frames changing shape |
But sometimes houses are underpinned if they’re having extra floors built, and it’s not linked to subsidence at all.
Underpinned properties are seen as high risk by insurers. If a home’s been underpinned, then it usually means your house has a history of subsidence damage. This suggests structural weakness and imperfect foundations. This can cost a significant amount of money to repair and there’s no guarantee that further work won’t be needed. That’s why you’re likely to need specialist underpinning insurance.
If your home’s at risk from subsidence but hasn’t been damaged, you can compare subsidence home insurance here.
When you apply for underpinned house insurance, insurers will need to understand why the home was underpinned.
Underpinned house insurers will likely ask:
When was your property underpinned? |
What was the cause of the subsidence or ground movement? |
How much of the property was underpinned? |
Was the work carried out following an insurance claim? |
Do you have a certificate that proves the property is secure? |
There’s a chance that insurers may wish to survey your home, too, so they can check the work.
It’s crucial to be honest in your answers. If you’re not honest about the condition of your property, your underpinned house insurance provider may not pay out when you need to claim.
If your home was underpinned a long time ago, this may have less of an impact on the cost of your insurance than if it was done recently. That’s because if, over decades, there’s been no further movement, it’s highly likely that underpinning solved the problem. If that’s the case, you’re less risky to insurers.
For example, a standard policy could come with a £1,000 excess, whereas insurance for an underpinned house policy could come with a £2,500 excess.
It’s your call. If you are interested in buying a PUP, then it’s a good idea to pay for a full structural survey. That should contain some advice about the property’s current state and whether it’s likely to throw up more problems in the future.
Getting a mortgage shouldn’t be a problem. If the structural survey report shows that the underpinning work has been carried out to a high standard, then you should be ok. It’s much more difficult to get a mortgage for a house that has subsidence but hasn’t yet been underpinned.
The important thing to remember is that you might find it harder to sell when it’s time to move on, so bear this in mind when you’re negotiating.
You should be able to find underpinned house insurance as there are several providers that offer it.
But, if you struggle to find underpinning insurance, talk to a standard home insurance provider. You might be able to arrange cover with subsidence excluded.
Remember that if you do this, underpinned house insurance wouldn’t be included. This means you’d be unable to claim for any subsidence damage, but you’d still get all the other protection offered by a home insurance policy.
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Last updated: 10 March, 2022