question about survey

excitedftb_2

i am a ftb mid way through the purchase of a newish property (under 2 years old) and have the results from the valuation survey back. The house is in good condition but there is mention of 'evidence of movement in form of cracking to stonework but thought to be a minor defect with no structural significance'. Everything has ran smoothly so far and the house is great but I am starting to get paranoid that this one sentence may affect me getting house insurance etc...

I know this may be an obvious question but does movement mean subsidence and if so does that mean insurance will be a nightmare to obtain?

lincroft1710

It's probably settlement, which all new properties suffer from, rather than subsidence.

excitedftb_2

thanks for such a quick reply...my dad kept saying the same but wanted to ask 'experts'!

Thrugelmir

Most houses will develop cracks over the years due to ground settlement.

Doozergirl

Why are they selling?

You will get cracks, mainly inside, some can be quite large where plasterboard ends and movement is exaggerated. New builds are not perfect houses, you get snags and settlement.

My in laws have some cracks which were monitored by NHBC. They appeared quite quickly but haven't moved since. It was to do with the type of foundations; the house settled quite 'hard'.

excitedftb_2

thanks for the information. When i went round to have a further look to see if anything was visible we couldn't spot any cracks so not sure what the surveyor meant. There is one smallish crack internally which is where the plasterboard ends but that looks like it is due to the new-ness of everything.

Eeason for the sale is couple have split up and neither can afford the house on their own...all seems ok and I have been happy with everything else so far - so hopefully it is just settlement..

As there is still some time remaining on the NHBC guarantee and if worst case scenario happened would i be covered for major problems or is it only the first two years where things like cracks etc are covered?

Doozergirl

excitedftb wrote: »

thanks for the information. When i went round to have a further look to see if anything was visible we couldn't spot any cracks so not sure what the surveyor meant. There is one smallish crack internally which is where the plasterboard ends but that looks like it is due to the new-ness of everything.

Eeason for the sale is couple have split up and neither can afford the house on their own...all seems ok and I have been happy with everything else so far - so hopefully it is just settlement..

As there is still some time remaining on the NHBC guarantee and if worst case scenario happened would i be covered for major problems or is it only the first two years where things like cracks etc are covered?

You will be covered for the full 10 year period for movement of the house. Beyond ten years if they are first informed before the 10 years is up.

Cazza

The key thing is the end of the surveyor's comment, "thought to be a minor defect with no structural significance". Sounds like a standard comment to me and not anything to worry about.

excitedftb_2

thanks for all the advice..I am going to go for it and it should all be completed in a couple of weeks (fingers crossed). :j