Should I fill internal cracks ahead of property survey?

blitzgerat

There are fine cracks on either side of an internal wall in my house, which I'm in the process of selling. They're barely more than hairline cracks, but they're fairly obvious and they run in the same direction on either side of the wall.

When I was remortgaging the property about 10 years ago the same cracks caused the surveyor sent by my lender to recommend an assessment to determine whether the house was subsiding. After a couple of different structural engineers investigated, paid for by my home insurance (minus the £1000 excess I had to pay!), they determined that the cracks were "slight (category 2 in accordance with BRE Digest 251)" and that "the crack damage has occurred recently but that the distortions are historic". As a result, the home insurance paid for cosmetic repairs (filling the cracks) and the remortgage was granted.

Five years later (about 5 years ago) the cracks reappeared exactly as before. Again, I contacted my home insurer and they again sent out engineers to assess things. They used metal studs to measure the cracks' progress over several months and again, they eventually concluded that "the readings show no evidence of progressive movement to the property" and repairs were again made to fill in the cracks (happily I didn't have to pay the £1000 excess again for this second claim!).

Now I'm selling the house. I accepted an offer a couple of months ago but the buyer ultimately pulled out for reasons that aren't clear, but with vague, 3rd-hand references to the cost of required repairs identified by the Homebuyer's Survey. I have now accepted another (sadly much lower - I don't want to lose the house I'm trying to buy!) offer and the surveyor is due to visit soon to carry out a survey for the new buyers.

I really don't want this sale to fall through as I'd probably lose the property I'm buying so it's really important that the survey about to be carried out doesn't highlight anything that scares off the new buyers. As I have described above, I am absolutely confident that the cracks in the wall do not represent a structural problem in the property, but I do not trust a relatively casual assessment by a surveyor employed by a lender to draw the same conclusion on the basis of a visual inspection, so it's very possible that their report will highlight the cracks and, understandably, suggest that they could be indicative of a serious problem, which could frighten off the buyers.

My question is, should I fill the cracks in and redecorate the affected rooms ahead of the survey? It would be a relatively minor job and I don't feel like I'm being deceptive or immoral in doing so because it's well established that the cracks are not a serious issue. On the other hand, is a surveyor likely to be able to tell that recent repairs and decoration have taken place and suspect something more sinister is being covered up, thus causing them to still write a scary report for the buyers?

princeofpounds

Far be it from me to question a surveyor but hairline plaster cracks are rarely anything to worry about. I’m really surprised they flagged them up. 

However, given they caused one surveyor to question, it may be wise to cover them up. Don’t worry about the ethics - you’ve clearly done plenty of investigation over time.

Yes, a surveyor would probably spot significant repair work. You can either say it was repaired after all the previous investigations. Or personally I would repair, get the wall(s) skimmed or papered and decorated. Then it won’t be obvious.

eve824

I would have done so before having any viewings, personally. We had some hairline cracks in the plaster which we filled and painted before the house went on the market.

macman

Your property, so you can do whatever work on it you wish. You are under no obligation to point out any potential defects to the purchaser or surveyor.

OldMusicGuy

Fill them. I did in my place when we were selling!

hb2

In your situation, I would have no hesitation in filling the cracks (and I am the kind of person who will return to a shop to tell them that I have underpaid, no matter how large or small the amount).

Temp_Username12563

I can understand why you would want to decorate, but you will have to share this history of your house to a new purchaser, or their solicitor will find it and difficult questions may be asked.