We made an offer on a property recently. Survey arranged, searches etc.

Anyway, bank contacted us today to advise though they haven’t received the completed survey they have been advised there is some structural movement in the property (unknown quantity at the minute) but they have already determined on that basis they won’t lend against it unless a structural survey is completed. Fine.

The property is approx 150 years old. We are waiting for the standard survey to be completed and then we will make a decision on the next course of action. I’m just not sure how to play this. Obviously our current bill for surveys, searches and solicitors fees is pretty large already and i’m worried that if when all the surveys are complete i’m just going to be left with a large bill and a property i can’t get a mortgage for and therefore can’t purchase.

And now having to add a further substantial chunk of money on top for a structural survey that may come back with nothing but doom and gloom. I’m basically damned if I do and damned if I don’t.

Any advice?

I’d speak to the surveyors and find out if the movement in the house is thought to be recent or not. If it’s thought to be a recent problem then I’d walk away regardless of the costs. It could cost a lot more in the long run even if you managed to complete the purchase as any further movement would likely make it unsellable in the future. In my experience, if it’s long-standing and not significant (the survey report should say this) then lenders tend to be okay about it, especially in older houses as it’s pretty normal. All of my previous houses and our current house (all 110+ years old) have been like this.
Wait and see what the surveyor says (if you can chat with him) or what the report says to be sure but given they’ve asked for a structural survey it sounds like there may be either recent or significant movement.

Alternatively it may be minimal and the bank is just covering its back (surveyor *may* be in a position to tell you this) in which case you’ll be as well to get the survey done on the assumption that it’ll be okay…

Sound advice. Definitely noted. It’s only the second house i’ve bought and my current property is just a typical 70’s build so all these things are completely new to me.

I’ll see what the survey report says and see what happens.

The problem is that they may retain part of the mortgage until it’s repaired/stabilised – that caused me to walk away from a purchase & leave it to somebody more foolish & with deeper pockets to throw at the problem before moving in.
That survey cost £700 but saved me tens of thousands on stuff we hadn’t noticed/realised.

When buying a business, one does due diligence. This is the same – it’s a relatively small cost vs the purchase price, which may prove the cheapest way to save yourself a load of money (or confirm your investment is safe).

If anything does show up, you can always use it as a bargaining tool to reduce the purchase price to reflect the increased risk.

We had the same when we bought our house. Bank refused to lend until a structural survey was done.

Thankfully we managed to persuade the vendor to pay for it so we weren’t out of pocket.

Maybe look at trying to come to an agreement with the vendor. After all, if one bank if saying their property isn’t mortgageable without it, then most other banks will also.

Do you know how long the vendors have been in the property. It is likely this issue was picked up when they purchased and a survey may have been done already.

If the case, I’d walk away. If the vendors are willing to hide that from you god knows what else they would skim over. It’s not worth the hassle.

You’ll be paying a large Insurance premium for the entire time your at the property and will struggle to sell. With that said, if they knock off a considerable sum it may be worth your while. Plenty more houses out there.

The survey cost isn’t all that much, as noted, compared to what sorting out a major problem might cost later.

So in some ways, you could be considerably quids in for having found out now.

Well, we’ve had our survey and more issues have come to light making this even more of a headache.

The survey discovered areas of single brick construction and the structural movement appears to be in the garage walls which is attached to the house. They surveyor also found out (and kindly called us to advise) that a previous attempt to sell the property earlier this year fell through due to the single skin walls.

Despite this we still like the house, for a variety of reasons, but I am angered that the estate agent mentioned nothing of the single skin walls or previous attempted sale so we have just forked out over a grand in survey and search fees potentially for nothing. Had they at least mentioned any of these issues we could have at least gone in a bit more tentatively or made an informed decision on the property from the start. Conversations today indicate to me that the EA know they are in the wrong as they are now trying to cover their backsides by stating they informed us of all of these issues at the start.

We have stated that we want the vendor to pay for the structural survey, which i don’t think is unreasonable, and take it from there. In the meantime we have instructed our solicitor to hold fire to save us forking out even more money for nothing. Not going well.

property bee is useful for this stuff, as you can see when estate agents relist or modify property details. So you can get a bit of a clue as to what they are hiding.

Some of the websites like Zoopla also show old adverts as well – it’s been useful finding out how much the seller of our house did herself & how much was done by the previous owner.

P.S. I hate at least half of all estate agents!