Your opinion on my buildings survey?

EddyBaloch

Hi all,

I am had my survey (1950s semi detatched house) and it is all red and orange

The survey says:
- Replace guttering
- Replace plumbing (3 different types of pipes used so leak highly likely)
- Sub floor ventilation poor so get an expert to review subfloor joists (suspended timber floor)
- Drainage might be cracked so get a drainage survey
- Property has cracks and signs of some movement. Get a structural engineer to investigate further.

I am a first time buyer and I had not anticipated any of above comments. Love the house but didn't budget for above in our offer.

Is this common to see these problems?

Should I ditch this house and look elsewhere?

Thanks,
Eddy

Davesnave

The important part here is the possibility of structual movement, which would not be something you'd want to buy into. Having said that, in some places, and with older properties in particular, movement can be common because of clay sub-soils..

What a structural engineer would do is assess whether the movement is historic or ongoing; the latter being most serious and important to avoid.

If the house is moving or has moved in the past, there is a possibility that the integrity of the drains might have been compromised. You could get a cctv survey to check, but you'd wait on the advice of the engineer.

Try to speak with the surveyor. They may be more candid if reporting verbally. Some of the issues, like the poor underfloor ventilation, are not unusual, so there might be a certain amount of rear-end covering in what's been written.

EddyBaloch

Thank you so much for your response.