I've been to look at a house today, and quite liked it. I was going to arrange a second viewing.

However, I mentioned it to a friend who lives in that area and he's warned me that there's a mine shaft running under the street. He says some of the houses are having trouble with subsidance.

I've been back for another look and noticed one of the houses opposite has a big crack in one of the walls. There are quite a few other houses in those couple of streets for sale.

My question is, how can I find out if there really is a problem with subsidance in that street? I don't want to buy a house and end up with it falling down! :confused:

You could try a search at The Coal Authority's website which will tell you of mining and subsidence possibilities. It costs £16 and if you're buying a house your solicitor should use this as one of the searches anyway.


The Coal Authority (http://www.coalminingreports.co.uk/)

Surely a surveyor would be able to spot this and put you wise.
If your unsure just don't buy.

Hi,

We bought a house in West Yorkshire which suffered subsidence about 10yrs ago (the mine is now closed). We checked through the solicitor/surveyor with the Coal Board that they would be liable should further subsidence occur (which they agreed to) and decided to proceed - and are happily settled now. Be warned that if there has been subsidence - such as in our house, there were no obvious signs as the Coal Board had repaired everything - we found out by asking the vendor. She had put in another claim 2 yrs later for minor cracks but was told these were due to the repairs drying out, which our surveyor checked.

One final point - in our case we found it very difficult to get contents insurance (we could only find one company after a battle) because we were honest about the subsidence having happened. The policy cost was more or less doubled as a result, but buildings insurance they seemed not to be bothered by the subsidence!

Thanks for those people who gave advice.

I did put a bid in on the house, but someone bid more than me so I didn't get it.

What street was it?