I'm sort-of half-seriously considering buying a house which has been
underpinned. The property needs general 'doing up', but clearly the
underpinning is the reason for it going to auction; and all other
things being equal it would be an extremely des res at a very
reasonable price, which is what attracted me in the first place.

I've had a look through the uk.d-i-y archives for previous threads on
this subject, and most advice seems to be 'don't do it!' primarily
because of likely hassle with selling in the future, and difficulties
with obtaining insurance cover.

I had rejected the idea completely, but I've just been sent a copy of
a "certificate of structural adequacy" signed by the structural
engineers who supervised the underpinning in 1994 (and yes, they are
still in business!)

What I'm now mulling over is, if I was to commission a structural
survey now which would hopefully confirm that 10 years on, the
building is perfectly sound; together with the above certificate which
presumably guarantees the underpinning work carried out; wouldn't this
serve to convince any prospective buyers that there wasn't a problem?
Or am I nuts even to be considering this?

(I do appreciate there could be problems with obtaining insurance; I'm
looking into that issue separately.)

Any thoughts appreciated.

David