Drainage issue and Cracking in House we are buying

prats

We are in the process of purchasing a house. The sale is dragging on for a few reasons but there is one sticking point that is preventing us from committing. We recently did full building survey The house is 1970s build and the surveyor has raised drainage issues as he noticed few cracks inside the bedrooms and one crack outside where the bathroom is . According to surveyor the crack could be due to drainage issue and is fixable. There is no evidence of subsidence.

We will go for drainage survey what else are our options. Please pour in your experiences and suggestions. Thank you so much!!

prats

prats said:

We are in the process of purchasing a house. The sale is dragging on for a few reasons but there is one sticking point that is preventing us from committing. We recently did full building survey The house is 1970s build and the surveyor has raised drainage issues as he noticed few cracks inside the bedrooms and one crack outside where the bathroom is . According to surveyor the crack could be due to drainage issue and is fixable. There is no evidence of subsidence.

We will go for drainage survey what else are our options. Please pour in your experiences and suggestions. Thank you so much!!

How bad is this external crack?

ProDave

Am I right in saying that crack is on the END wall of the house and at the bottom of the picture I am seeing the roof of an attached garage.

To me, it looks like that end wall has dropped.  And the back wall of the house has not dropped.

Can you see more evidence of cracks inside the garage in that corner?

It will be for the surveyor to say for certain, but I would tread carefully, worst case that end wall is going to want underpinning.

If you can find a clearly identifiable reason why that wall has dropped, such as a leaking drain, then fixing the fault may stop the problem leaving repointing and re decorating to make good, but i would want to be damned sure that the cause you find really is the cause.

prats

Hi Thanks  the wall has garage attached. The wall is bathroom wall . The building surveyor thinks its a drainage issue and that particular drain need to be sleeved. We are asking vendor to go  for CCTV drainage survey report before we commit.
We are going to see Vendors on Friday i will check for more  cracks inside the garage in that corner.

prats

 In case if  it turns out drains issue only?  Where we stand with insurance in this scenario? Will it be considered as Subsidence ? The Survey report doesn't mention subsidence anywhere. But yes cracking because of drains.

AdrianC

prats said:

There's a swimming pool on the garage flat roof, and they say no work's needed?

prats

ahh yes Surveyor raised that as well 

prats

Please advise what are our options? Walk away or wait for drainage survey and Structural engineers report? Ask Vendor to get these fixed before we exchange contracts. 

iwb100

As with all surveys you’ve had potential problems flagged. It’s up to you to investigate further or pull out. From there if you decide to purchase you can try and renegotiate based on accurate quotes of work required but until you know what the actual problems are you don’t know what that figure is. The vendors shouldn’t be asked to fix these issues. You need to do it IF you buy the house. And you may choose to reduce your offer or not progress the purchase. But if it were me I’d be trying to find out what the underlying issue is. Otherwise you have no idea what a fix will or won’t cost.

prats

Thanks so should we ask Vendors to engage drainage survey and we engage Structural engineer who oversees the survey and move from there?
Should Vendors building insurance not be taking care of drainage problem? 
Please advise how to move forward?

macman

You can certainly ask the vendor to pay for the drainage survey, and they can of course (and probably will) tell you you are welcome to commission any surveys you want, but at your expense. You are the potential buyer, It's your job to ascertain the condition if you wish to.
Buildings insurance may not cover this if it's a gradual condition that's deteriorated over many years.
The condition of that flat roof would be ringing alarm bells for me if it's indicative of  the vendor's general approach to maintenance.