Post sale survey advice please

silverminx

I'm in need of some advice please. Bought a house in November - had a full survey done which showed a couple of isseues we had resolved before purchase. It now seems we may have a structural problem with a crack in the masonry at the corner of the house which may require a chunk of expensiveness to repair. This is obviously an old defect as we have now found the plastering over the inside crack.... Anyway I believe the surveyor should have picked this up but didn't. Do I have any rights to go back to the surveyor and a) ask for an explanation and b) ask for compensation....

teneighty

You mentioned "plastering over the inside crack" so the first question to address is.......was the cracking/movement visible when the original survey was done?

You can lodge a complaint against the original surveyor but to improve your chances of success you will probably need to get a structural engineer or building surveyor to inspect the property and confirm that the movement would have been visible or there was evidence of movement that should have been picked up by a competent surveyor.

Is it possible that the vendor knew about the movement but had the plastering done to hide the evidence? Might be worth having a chat with your solicitor if that is the case.

Finally, not all cracking involves a "chunk of expensiveness" so don't panic just yet, it may prove to be a simple and inexpensive job to repair.

Good Luck

DannyboyMidlands

I agree with teneighty. A crack doesn't necessarily mean an expensive structural issue.

I assume that the crack was visable on the outside all along? If so, how come you've only just found it? Are you able to post up a picture?

I'd go back to the surveyor and ask their opinion before paying any other professionals.