Will my lender accept my vendors building insurance structural engineers letter!

qad007

I am purchasing a property via auction. My lender valued the property at £0 due to potential structural movement and noted the removal of load bearing walls, pending further investigation by a chartered building surveyor or structural engineer. I wasn't willing to foot the bill for this, and therefore the vendor contacting her building insurance company who visited the property and provided a 1 page letter stating the following:
As I advised at the time of the inspection, subsidence damage typically takes the form of cracking that extends from ground level passing diagonally through door/window openings, is tapered becoming wider as it rises up the building and is present in the same locations externally and internally.  The cracking that is present to the building doesn’t exhibit these characteristics to indicate that it is associated with foundation movement/subsidence.  My opinions on the causes of the various cracks are as follows;
1. The external cracking that steps up above the kitchen window at the rear of the house is due to deflection of the window frame off which the wall is supported in the absence of a lintel.
2. The internal cracks above the door openings internally are generally uniform in width which is indicative of cracking that has been caused by thermal expansion/contraction.
I am not completely convinced by this report or if I can even call it a report. I seriously dont want my lender to accept this letter from a registered structural engineer, as I believe it is not a conclusive report. Would my lender accept this, or ask for a full structural report?  Has anyone else had the same issues, any advise would be appreciated. 

tacpot12

I don't think your insurers will or should accept this. The benefit of paying for a report is that you are then covered by the Surveyor's professional liability insurance. You have absolutely no comeback on the surveyor that has written this letter. The letter looks ok, but if I was the vendor I would not wanted to have paid more than £250 for his opinions. 

dunstonh

If they have asked for a structural engineers report then that is what they will expect to see.     Structural engineers have a grading system for movement and it will be the grading that will be of interest to them along with the expected remedy (i.e. is it a simple repair or a massive one that may not be viable).  The lender may insist on the work being carried out prior to the retention being removed.

Not just that, your prospective home insurance company would also want to see the report the minute you say there has been movement/subsidence.  They too will look for the grading system, remedy and possibly evidence work has been carried out to correct.

qad007

The vendors building insurance structrual engineer has not given a grading system of the cracks or even commented on the load bearing walls. Am I right to think the lender will not lend, without a full report! ?

dunstonh

qad007 said:

The vendors building insurance structrual engineer has not given a grading system of the cracks or even commented on the load bearing walls. Am I right to think the lender will not lend, without a full report! ?

From my experience, if they have asked for a structural engineers report then that is what they expect to get.    It should be noted that a structural engineers report is usually focused on the issues raised by the valuer and not a full survey.     

qad007

The engineer has failed to address the removal of load bearing walls and if they have been done appropriately? will the lender not want to know about this? I personally dont want the lender to change there valuation as I can only withdraw if the value stays as it is

MovingForwards

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6192668/will-my-lender-accept-my-vendors-building-insurance-structural-engineers-letter#latest

You've two threads asking the same question.