Having recently putting an offer on an old renovation project we plumped for a Building Survey (AKA full structural survey). The report didn't mention anything too worrying, certainly nothing that would make us think twice about buying or re negotiating our offer.
We completed last week and we quickly went in to start work on getting a fireplace renovated to get some heat into the place. Upon exposing the fireplace I quickly noticed that the lovely old lintel I was expecting to find was non-existent and that the entire chimney stack plus the side of the house was being supported by a thin (2in) metal bar and a rotten old brick!!
We immediately stopped work and trussed up the floor with a scaffolding plank and some 2/4 and called in a structural engineer to assess the problem.
They were mildly surprised the Surveyor didn't even mention the possibility of this problem occurring(the SE highlighted that this problem is a lot more common than expected) in a property of its age (c1890's)
We've reviewed the survey report and there is no mention of this problem being a concern and in mentioning the chimneys in the report they only suggest we have it inspected for dampness!
Not massively impressed as it's gonna cost £2k+ VAT to repair to an adequate standard and the Ins won't cover it as they class it as 'wear and tear'! Our only avenue now is to pursue the Surveyor and we have our solicitor on the case.
What was I paying Mr Surveyor MRICS MSc. to do if he couldn't pick out a potential problem like this?!
Anyone else had a similar issue?
