Subsidence, settlement and heave
The seller says a subsidence claim was closed and no schedule of repairs is attached. What work has the word closed not described?
The word closed has not described any repair. No schedule of repairs is attached, so the survey cannot say what was rebuilt, pinned, replastered, or simply watched and then filed. Closed is a status on a claim. It is not a list of work. The survey has recorded the seller's statement and the missing schedule. It has not decided that the damage was put right, and it has not decided that nothing was done. The Association of British Insurers explains what to do if subsidence happens. A closed file without a schedule still leaves the work itself undescribed.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
A claim can close because repairs finished, because the insurer declined more work, because the policyholder stopped, or because monitoring ended without building work. Those endings look alike if the only word you hold is closed. A schedule would name the bays, the materials and how the job ended. Without it, the survey can describe cracks it can see today. It cannot rebuild a scheme that nobody has attached. Today's cracks are not a diary of the claim.
Ask the solicitor for the insurer's closing papers, any engineer's report, and the schedule if one exists, and keep that file apart from this report. The Association of British Insurers points to the claim process when subsidence happens. Those documents, not the word closed, are what would describe the work. Do not tell a lender the house was repaired because a claim ended. The survey has not seen the repairs written down.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What did you see today that the word closed does not explain?
- Is a schedule of repairs absent from the papers you were given?
- Have you avoided treating a closed claim as a list of completed work?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat closed as a claim status, not a description of work.
- Ask the solicitor for the schedule and the closing papers.
- Do not tell a lender the repairs are known.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the walls look freshly painted, were the repairs finished?
Fresh paint shows a surface, not a schedule. The survey has not seen what lies under that paint, and the closed claim still has no list of repairs attached. Decoration can follow a period of watching where no structural work was done. Paint is not the missing schedule, and the report has not treated it as one.
Does a closed claim mean the insurer accepted the damage?
Not from this report. Closed can follow an acceptance, a refusal, or a file that simply ended. The survey was not given a schedule and has not read the insurer's decision. The Association of British Insurers describes the claim route. The single word does not say the damage was accepted or repaired.