Would you buy a house that has had pyrite but been fixed now?

J

jem20066

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As the title suggests would you buy a house that has had pyrite in the past. It has been fixed by the builder and certified as pyrite free. I'm wondering if anyone can shed any light on any issues that we may have if we purchased said house. We went to see a house today, if it never had pyrite we would have offered the asking price there and then but I'm afraid I haven't thought through all the potential problems.

Many thanks
 
You'll need to engage a structural engineer to review any remedial measures which have been completed on the house.

Presumably the builder has used a chartered structural engineer to certify that the house is "pyrite free" - presumably this means it has been underpinned or whatever.
The builder should be able to provide you with a letter from the CE to this effect in which case you should be covered by their PI insurance in the event of any issues down the road.

Pyrite is a serious issue but it's not irreperable by any means. If the rectification had been completed satisfactorily and you have certification to this effect then I personally wouldn't walk away from the house if it's otherwise satisfactory and desirable.
 
How long has the repair been completed?

Was it the original builder who repaired it and was the entire slab removed? They should have taken photos and been cert'd by the engineer at each stage so ask for the proof.

Are there any visible signs of further cracking in the plaster, sticking doors etc?



If the repair was done correctly then you should be fine to put in a bid, but you have to be absolutely certain of the quality of repair before even considering it.


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The original buyer thought it was pyrite free too. I would buy another house, there are plenty of others.
 
I don't see the issue if the problem is solved. Are there issues with homes that had pyrite removed. Only way to know is to hire a competent engineer.
 
As another Poster said, if your house is in a 'Pyrite Estate', it may be difficult to sell in the future.

Have all of the houses in your estate being fixed? - It could be depressing if your conversations with neighbours for the next 20 years include a lot of complaining about Pyrite / Cracks / Builders / Compensation etc..
 
I wouldn't buy a house which has been repaired due to previous pyrite due to

A. Possible difficulty with selling in the future

B. Possible ongoing problems post repair

I know someone with a house that contained pyrite, it has since been repaired but has developed smaller cracks, doors still sticking etc etc
While the problems aren't nearly as bad now as they were prior to fixing, for me, it would simply be a case of "fear of the unknown" with regard to any future issues that may arise.

Call me black and white but I liken it to a previously crashed but now fully repaired car.....would I buy one? No!

Any possible future issues will become yours. Plenty of other houses out there.
 
diver said:
I know someone with a house that contained pyrite, it has since been repaired but has developed smaller cracks, doors still sticking etc etc
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Click to expand...

So does that mean it's not possible to correctly repair pyrite houses? Or that the repair job in this case was done badly?
 
The issue here is the unknown - although the infected fill will have been removed and cosmetically the house will have been returned to its correct state it is impossible to know what damage was caused by the ongoing upward pressure that the pyrite produced in the first place.

Realistically there will be settlement in the property after the works have been completed for all of the same reasons any that a new property has them but identifying these harmless enough cracks and sticking doors from some far more sinister is very difficult.



As has been said before, why run the risk - plenty more properties out there for sale.
 
jem20066 said:
As the title suggests would you buy a house that has had pyrite in the past. It has been fixed by the builder and certified as pyrite free.
Click to expand...
Certified by who? What insurance backs up the certification? If it is Professional Indemnity insurance for an engineer, does your insurance cover in future years rely on the engineer continuing to pay for PI insurance?

There is a bizarre situation with architects PI insurance, where PI cover only applies for as long as the architect is paying insurance. So if you have a problem with work done by an architect five years ago, and he has stopped paying PI insurance because he has moved to Oz or switched to interior design or whatever, then you have no insurance cover.
 
HI All,
Thanks for your responses. Think it was a case of our heart ruling our head. We have decided that its not worth the risk and we would prefer to pay extra for a house now rather than risk paying out what could be 10s of thousands in the future if the remedial works prove ineffective.
Thanks again
 
The message on here then is that ex pyrite houses might be unsaleable, or saleable with a very low price
 
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