Run a mile?  Tell me your stories.

I’ve been house-hunting for most of this year, and something has just come up where a potential buyer has just pulled out.  Estate agent isn’t being very clear on exactly why they’re pulling out, but their survey pointed out some minor exterior cracking and the sellers have subsequently had a structural engineer carry out a visual assessment.  The timing of that report suggests it’s reason previous buyer is walking away.

The seller has made the report available to us and it states it’s most likely ground movement due to desiccation.  It recommends removing vegetation next to the property, and states that they would expect the cracking to stabilise afterwards.

That doesn’t sound too dramatic, but of course they then go on to list the possible effects of the worst case scenarios, summarising underpinning procedures, costs and insurance coverage for subsidence

If I already owned the house I wouldn’t be concerned.  But I’m uncertain about what can of worms we’d be taking on with this place.  We’ve been looking for around 6 months and aren’t finding much supply for our requirements, so this is place could be a good opportunity to pass up on.

This is South London, where the only 2 houses I visit regularly have also both seen some minor internal cracks appear during this dry weather, so I suspect a lot of houses have seen much the same this summer.

Proper structural survey, and investigate insurance costs due to the issues .

I’m told that it’s rife because of the dry weather this summer.

Wait till we get shit loads of rain in November and you get a load of heave…..

Old houses (and I’ve no idea the age of the one in question) breathe.  In during the winter and out in the summer.  No big deal.  Stupid of the seller not to buy some Polyfilla.

I used to live in a house that did this in 1995, owners got someone out to assess the cracks, they put a couple of pins in the wall so they could accurately measure the crack.

by 1996 the cracks started to close up once it started to get wet again.

Personally, I’d run a mile.

Proper structural survey, and investigate insurance costs due to the issues

This.

Our first house had unrepaired bomb damage from WW2. Like  big fist width crack full height of gable wall. We negotiated £15k off asking price, spent £10k on repairs (it’s bolted to rest of the 20 houses in the run of terraces, underpinned by a huge concrete support and full is stainless bars…) with 100 year insurance warranty.

You couldn’t tell the work was done, sold it easily.

Happening to lots of older houses at the moment. If you write them all off then you’ll be severely limiting your options. Wouldn’t worry me too much but I’d want some money off.

we’ve had some movement on our place small hairline cracks appearing all over the place scaring me toll I did loads of reading.  given a few months back we had surface water pooling on my lawn there was so much rain when you look at it now the grass is dead and it’s so dry there are cracks.  it’s not surprising g the house has moved a bit.  clay soil does that. old or new build is suspect would have issues going from -10 and water logged to 30 and bone dry in 6 months

Our old flat (also in S. London) did a very slow boogie with the seasons. hairline cracks appeared and disappeared again throughout the years. Not actually too much point in filling them as the polyfilla just spalled out when the walls wanted to close up again.

Ours was pretty ropily built, but it had been stood there for the best part of a century without falling down, so once I’d got my head round the idea of a building being a living, breathing thing, just got on with life. <<koff>>and a boat load of decorators caulk once we wanted to sell it <<koff>>

That said, if it’s “sudden” then I’d want a proper investigation to make sure there’s no buggered drains/water pipes etc causing proper subsidence .

Aren’t most older south london houses built on 18″-2ft foundations on clay in anycase, so this can pretty much happen with any older house?

TJ-brand caulk will sort it 🙂

Our 1910 house has loads of cracks this summer – we are built on clay over gravel. They coincided with building an oak orangery on the side of the house, which I was convinced was responsible. OP – I’d not worry at all, but rather use it as an opportunity to knock a chunk off the price which you can put aside for any remedial work in the future.

Even our house, built in 1987, has been affected as for the first time ever I can hear and feel the slabs in the porch moving under my feet. There’s also a tiny crack up one corner, which I’ve never noticed before and I’m watching with interest. Just about every house must have a crack somewhere.

The issue would be whether you’d be covered for subsidence given the potential issue was known before you bought it – I’d phone a few insurers and see what they say…

The Wife had a BTL flat with some movement, was a total PITA to try and sell, everyone kept pulling out at the last minute…

“TJ-brand caulk will sort it ”

🤣🤣🤣

Our old flat (also in S. London) did a very slow boogie with the seasons. hairline cracks appeared and disappeared again throughout the years. Not actually too much point in filling them as the polyfilla just spalled out when the walls wanted to close up again.

When you all suggest just live with it, and polyfilla occasionally, are you talking about exterior cracks?

This is exterior cracks I’m talking about here.  I’d have though polyfilla repairs down the middle of brickwork right above the front door would only make the problem more obvious to potential buyers, no!?

run a mile.

If the house is ‘the one’ it may be worth exploring.

I’d be expecting seller to fund cost of an engineers survey (including exposure of foundation, not a visual survey) and monitoring. Also some reasonable drop in price. If seller has insurance, they should consider contacting their insurers.

Expect possible issues when you sell it.

You’ll not likely find an insurer who will provide subsidence cover until they see engineers survey and then, as this has only just occurred, will likely still exclude subsidence until a period of monitoring.

If you need a mortgage, this may also cause an issue with many lenders not keen if no subsidence cover.