To trust the surveyors judgement or to pull out that is the question

wateva · 24 July 2015 at 9:37PM

I'd appreciate readers views on this sticky situation

We are in the process of obtaining a valuation for a property that we put an offer in for. The lender said they cannot value the property as it has structural movement and we need a structural engineer to produce a report. Anyway today the structural engineer went to see the property. We had assumed the structural movement the lender referred to was settlement as the property's garage was converted into a reception room. We were so wrong.
Turns out there are cracks in the external wall at the back of the house where the drainage is for the kitchen. It appears the cracks could be a result of overflow from drainage which now appears fixed but the leakage has resulted in the secondary consequence of cracking in the wall. Thing is I had originally said that should the house present subsidence I would walk away from the sale. Now I'm in a quandary as structural engineer advises not to be put off by the problem as it is not a major setback and can be remedied and the problem does not need underpinning. Husband also agrees but I'm concerned of the impact this may have in obtaining building insurance and future issues should we ever decide to sell.

Structural engineer has stated he is aware of the ramifications therefore he will address the matter in a way where there is minimal impact so I am not sure if he will say that it is infact subsidence or a drainage problem.

With my judgement being clouded by emotions, what would you advise or do if you were in the same situation?