I was hoping to buy my council house, but when I applied for a mortgage I was turned down because the house has a history of subsidence. I don’t think this is right; it’s not as though the house would ever have been sold. I just wanted to pass it down to my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The priority for banks and building societies is to ensure they get their money back. They may have decided that in view of the subsidence issues no-one else would ever want to buy your house. This would be important to them if you defaulted on the mortgage, since in those circumstances they might have to repossess the property and sell it to someone else to recoup their money. If you were to buy the house you may just be leaving your grandchildren with a problem.