Land subsidence will be one of the most important risks of climate change for Drenthe homeowners in the next 25 years. To better identify these types of risks, three major banks are calling for a mandatory climate label. But is such a label feasible in our province?
This also happened at the home of Jelle de Jonge and Marianne Anholts from New Amsterdam. Three years ago, the couple therefore had to have their foundation replaced. “That cost us 75,000 euros,” says De Jonge. “But if we hadn’t done it, the house might have collapsed.”
The subsidence was discovered when widening cracks appeared in the walls. Research showed that although the foundation of the house rested on sandy soil, a compacting deeper peat layer caused all the soil above to sink.
This happens in more places in Drenthe. The municipality of Emmen alone received 140 reports of damage due to a sinking subsoil, says subsidence project leader Jeroen Dozeman.
“These reports do not really come from the villages, they are mainly built on the foothills of the Hondsrug and are therefore on sandy soil,” Dozeman explains. “We mainly see that land subsidence is taking place along canals and on peat areas between villages.
This also applies to De Jonge and Anholts, who live along the Dommerskanaal. De Jonge: “Many of our neighbors also have damage to their homes. A lot of groundwater has also been extracted here by farmers, gardeners and the NAM, for example. But it has dropped faster in recent years due to the drought.”
Research by Rabobank, ING and ABN AMRO showed two weeks ago that many homeowners do not know much about the climate risks of their home. This could involve subsidence, as in Drenthe, but also the risk of flooding or pile rot.
The banks are therefore calling for a mandatory climate label. This way, future buyers can see at a glance how climate-proof houses are.
People who want to buy a house in the New Amsterdam area are not all concerned with subsidence, says real estate agent Bert Beukema from the same village. But according to him, that is not so strange.
“Soil subsidence is now only happening in a number of places outside the village. There is little going on in New Amsterdam itself,” Beukema explains. “And people who want to buy a home in those places are often aware.”
The responsibility for informing lies largely with future buyers, the broker believes. “If you make such a large purchase, you can assume that people will be well informed. This can be done by searching on the internet themselves, but also by calling a real estate agent who knows the market.”
Beukema fears that a mandatory climate label will say too little about the risks for homes. Every home owner would then have to have an investigation carried out into those risks and that is quite expensive. A foundation investigation alone can cost thousands of euros.
Beukema: “I think it will mainly be a general story for a particular neighborhood. But the precise situation can vary enormously per house. And then that climate label is not entirely correct,”
A label had made no difference to De Jonge and Anholts. Even if they had known the risks in advance, they would have bought the house anyway. “Then we would have just postponed a renovation and had the foundation repaired first. But we live here happily and now we have a better feeling.”