Buying house with cracks in wall directly below a support beam

oksamuraii

Hi people just wanted some advice as I am about to exchange contracts on a house. When I visited the house today I noticed in the kitchen a couple of cracks in the wall which concern me. These cracks appear on 2 different walls directly below where the ends of a support beam is rested. It looks to an untrained eye these are stress cracks caused as the section of walls the beam is rested on are unable to support the weight. The cracks have a gap of approximately 1-2 mm and are about 9 inches long running down the wall. I noticed on one wall the cracks were more prominent and appear on both the inside and outside of the wall where there is a door directly below.

The seller assures me as the house is built on clay it is normal seasonal cracks which tend to open and close with the seasons. As this is an ex council house, it appears from the seller's explanation the support beam was installed when a load bearing wall was removed by council contractors 36 years ago when the council were renovating there housing stock in the area. He admited the installation of the beam was a bit of a bodge job and mentioned something about having to pack the beams in himself when he moved in.

As a first time buyer I still have niggling doubts and can't decide how to proceed even though I know am probably being overcautious. The building survey or mortgage valuer did not express any concerns about the above, I'm inclined to believe as nothing has collapsed or failed since the beam was installed 36 years ago it's probably unlikely to now.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

witchy1066

the mortgage surveyor was an !!!! , he probably didn't even see them ,
you are not being overcautious you are being sensible

do not go ahead unless you have had a proper structural survey done,
hairline cracks are one thing but 2mm is a fair size crack,

the fact they go all the way through to the outside should tell you its a problem,

if you are serious about this house and really like it then get a full structural survey done , otherwise walk away

oksamuraii

Thanx a lot for your reply I did pay for a building survey report on this property. Is this the same as structural survey you mentioned ?

I'm also wondering as council contractors were responsible for bodge job would the council be liable to rectify it if I contacted council building regulation department.

witchy1066

what did the building survey say abut the cracks ,

which survey did you have done, was it the basic one for the lenders or was it the homebuyers or full structural ,

I doubt it was either of the last 2 , something would have been mentioned about the cracks , I find it amazing that even the basic survey didn't mention them,

how much did you pay for the survey , you must know which one you paid for

oksamuraii

I paid for a building survey report which cost £350 and was conducted by a RICS surveyor who was not the same surveyor who conducted the mortgage valuation on behalf of the lending bank.

In summary, 2 different professionals have inspected the property and neither one saw fit to bring to my attention this problem. I did double check all reports conducted by the 2 surveyors again today in case I misread them, but this was not the case, neither report made any reference to the cracks. It appears both surveyors completely missed it.

I still can't decide what to do. Exchange and complete with the expectation the beam should not fail as it's been in situ for 36 years. I could of course possibly sue the surveyor who conducted the building survey report in the future if problems occur for not bringing it to my attention. Lastly I could just walk away and lose the money I have spent on surveys and fees etc. Too many implications, and time is short as exchange is due in 8 days and I don't think the seller will wait around.

jimbog

Can you go back and take some photos of the cracks and email them to your surveyor (and/or others) for an opinion?

harrys_dad

Seems to me you need to bring your concerns to the attention of the surveyor you paid £350 to find things like this and see what they say. On your earlier point I doubt anyone is responsible for building work after 36 years!

witchy1066

be hard to sue the surveyor if you are dead,

if you have a family in all honesty I would get another opinion , why would you risk it falling down and hurting someone or even worse.
the fact its been up for 30 odd years doesn't mean its going to stay that way for another 30, it could come down anytime

I am not trying to scare you but really, come on, you know something isn't right or you wouldn't have posted on here

if it was just the cracks inside it might not be too bad but you say they are showing on the outside also ,

at the end of the day could be absolutely nothing to worry about but you need to know for certain

witchy1066

I don't think you will get a full structural survey done for £350 ,
so sounds to me it was a homebuyers , ring them up and tell them you have some concerns ,

oksamuraii

It was a building survey report that was conducted on the property as the report went into detail about everything and was 25 pages long. A homebuyer report would not go into that much detail.

I will do as advised and ring surveyor for his comments. Hopefully he can arrange to visit the property again free of charge. Thanx all for kind and helpful responses.

buzzyzoe

oksamuraii wrote: »

It was a building survey report that was conducted on the property as the report went into detail about everything and was 25 pages long. A homebuyer report would not go into that much detail.

I will do as advised and ring surveyor for his comments. Hopefully he can arrange to visit the property again free of charge. Thanx all for kind and helpful responses.

Re Homebuyers Report, actually they are around 25 pages:
http://www.home.co.uk/guides/buying/homebuyer_report.htm
"The report is now quite lengthy, usually in the region of 25 pages, but it is divided into easily readable and logical sections as follows:-

• A. Introduction to the report
• B. About the inspection
• C. Overall opinion and summary of the condition ratings
• D. About the property
• E. Outside the property
• F. Inside the property
• G. Services
• H. Grounds (including shared areas for flats)
• I. Issues for your legal advisers
• J. Risks
• K. Valuation
• L. Surveyor's declaration"

Did your report have the above structure? If so, it was a homebuyers rather than a full structural.