Survey says...structural issues.

thread_astaire

Anyone have any idea what i may be up against here. Survey showed that the chimney is unsupported & is leaning slightly & needs supporting immediately as is dangerous, they recommend lintels over all windows as there are non, over the lounge window the brickwork is bowing & some cracking above due to this. Another issue of concern is brick pier in the loft supporting the pulin has been removed as the wall below has been removed, moved & replaced with a  stud wall in the room below, the pier has been replaced with timber props. The props are secured to boards which spread the load over the ceiling joists and the stud wall, they mention some small cracks around the ceiling & stud walls that could be due to load. They note that 'Building Regulations approval for this structural work is required.' Yet there was no building reg approval as vendor states it was not a supporting wall. 
Are these problems expensive/difficult to fix? 

Ghxst

Don't quote me on it, but you'd be looking at a few grand however I'm sure the price can vary whether you go down the gallow bracket route or the RSJ route and as far as building regs, I'll quote this from a guidance document on removing chimney stacks. 

"If a ground floor chimney breast is removed and suitable beams are not provided to carry the weight of the stack and chimney breast on the first floor the resulting eccentric loading of the stack and breast could eventually pull the wall over." 

FreeBear

What can happen with an unsupported chimney - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF1pHzGkSC4

Lintels over the windows - If it is just the outer leaf that needs support, £300-£1000 for each one. To fix the chimney and other structural issues, how long is a bit of string.... It could be as little as £5000, or it might be £20000 depending on how much work is involved. I would have thought the surveyor would be able to give some ball park numbers. He has seen the extent of the defects, so would have a better idea than us (we haven't seen the property, so can only speculate).

SameOldRoundabout

Have you spoken to your surveyor? Our survey also pulled up structural issues (outer wall delamination) and other worrying issues. I rang him up and chatted a good 45 minutes with him about all the issues involved. He was happy to do so, along with proposing remedies, cost estimates and even some local companies to fix said issues. That should be your first port of call. 

Jumblebumble

thread_astaire said:

Anyone have any idea what i may be up against here. Survey showed that the chimney is unsupported & is leaning slightly & needs supporting immediately as is dangerous, they recommend lintels over all windows as there are non, over the lounge window the brickwork is bowing & some cracking above due to this. Another issue of concern is brick pier in the loft supporting the pulin has been removed as the wall below has been removed, moved & replaced with a  stud wall in the room below, the pier has been replaced with timber props. The props are secured to boards which spread the load over the ceiling joists and the stud wall, they mention some small cracks around the ceiling & stud walls that could be due to load. They note that 'Building Regulations approval for this structural work is required.' Yet there was no building reg approval as vendor states it was not a supporting wall. 
Are these problems expensive/difficult to fix? 

I would run a mile
You have no idea of what other bodged surprises are in store which may dramatically increase the cost of rectification.

Sachs

I'm with Jumblebumble on this. Individually all these issues may be perfectly resolvable within your budget but the fact that someone removed two structurally critical elements of this building like it was no big deal would raise significant alarm bells that I personally would have neither the risk appetite nor desire to invite in to my life.

thread_astaire

Thank you all for the feedback all very useful.
I spoke to the surveyor for more details & agrees non of it adds up with the bathroom, regards to the chimney only has a beam propped up against it as support, needs addressing urgently but shouldn't be too difficult to fix & was probably done a long time ago so not really the fault of the vendor although as this person is supposed to be in the construction industry, refurbed many properties & should of noticed the issue imo.
The walls that have been removed & new bathroom are the work of this owner. 
He said the wooden props they have used to replace the brick 'may be fine' but was skeptical it was done properly & definitely would need building regs for it.
 It may be that they have all the right paperwork for this but this would contradict what has been said in the searches, something i missed myself is that he doesn't mention the work they did downstairs at all in the searches. I should really have picked this up in the searches & scrutinized it more. But lessons learnt for me for sure.
 I'm now waiting for the EA to get back to me.