Structural issue not mentioned on Home Report

LDreader

Hi,
Looking for opinions please. 
Having viewed and offered on a recently renovated house (Scotland) the solicitor mentioned an indemnity policy for alterations. It seems previous owners removed a third of a load bearing wall on ground floor. There is a beam in place. On top of that the current owners removed walls to make it all open plan on ground floor and to make the bedrooms upstairs better shapes according to the estate agents , although the seller now denies making any alterations. 

The Home Report makes no mention of missing walls or the beam in place!  I would have thought this was a serious thing to overlook! 

Because the house has new plasterboard and outside has external insulation,I think the only way to be confident this is safe and has been done properly is to have a structural engineer assess it. However our solicitor seems to think we should just ask the Home Report surveyor for his opinion on its structural stability - the same person who hasn’t even mentioned that walls have been removed or that there’s a beam there suggesting a load bearer has been removed. 

Am I being awkward by insisting the seller carry out a structural survey?
They must have known there was an issue and no completion certificate because of the indemnity policy. They’ve only had the property a year and have spent a lot doing it up, yet didn’t think it was worth doing anything about the load bearing wall? That concerns me.

We’re offering over valuation for this house (because everything was done up nicely and Home Report is positive !) so I think it should be on seller to prove it’s sound.

So, should I insist the solicitor pass on our condition that we want a structural survey before proceeding? Is it reasonable? 

( I know it’s a bit different in Scotland so incase anyone says I should have had survey done before offer - viewings were on a Thursday and closing date for formal offer from solicitor was following Wednesday. Unless there’s issues raised in Home Report, you wouldn’t normally have time for surveys or add survey conditions to offer).

Thanks for reading. 

ProDave

I would be wanting to know WHEN the alterations were done, was building control informed? if not why not?

MovingForwards

Can you find adverts for when the property was previously listed for sale? This will show roughly when the work was done.

Not unreasonable asking for an additional report.

Alter_ego

A structural survey seems reasonable. Good luck getting the vendor to pay for it

davidmcn

Assuming there are no apparent signs of resulting defects, the Home Report wouldn't normally say more than mention that there appears to have been past alterations taken place (and the solicitors should check for consents) - does it not even say that? No "normal" survey is going to e.g. make holes in the plasterboard and look for beams etc, they'll just tell you whether or not everything looks like it should. It's not normal to get structural engineers in for something like this.

LDreader

Thanks for replies. The sellers have owned for a year and bought at auction. From the previous floor plan I can see the walls that seller removed but the load bearer is already missing. Looks like previous seller owned for about 10 years so presumably some time during that time. Seller isn’t being forthcoming with information, and they may not know the when/why no building warrant or completion certificate. It’s an ex council house and others have had similar work done so I don’t understand why seller didn’t apply for certificate. 

LDreader

davidmcn said:

Assuming there are no apparent signs of resulting defects, the Home Report wouldn't normally say more than mention that there appears to have been past alterations taken place (and the solicitors should check for consents) - does it not even say that? No "normal" survey is going to e.g. make holes in the plasterboard and look for beams etc, they'll just tell you whether or not everything looks like it should. It's not normal to get structural engineers in for something like this.

Thanks for your response.
The home report does not make any mention or suggest that any alterations may have taken place. As for the beam, perhaps I’m not using the right word but it is visible running along ceiling from where interior wall stops to the exterior wall. I didn’t think Home Report surveyor would make holes to look for beams, but I thought it would be mentioned that there is a beam running along ceiling where part of what appears to be load bearing wall is missing. If that makes sense? 

davidmcn

LDreader said:

davidmcn said:

Assuming there are no apparent signs of resulting defects, the Home Report wouldn't normally say more than mention that there appears to have been past alterations taken place (and the solicitors should check for consents) - does it not even say that? No "normal" survey is going to e.g. make holes in the plasterboard and look for beams etc, they'll just tell you whether or not everything looks like it should. It's not normal to get structural engineers in for something like this.

As for the beam, perhaps I’m not using the right word but it is visible running along ceiling from where interior wall stops to the exterior wall. I didn’t think Home Report surveyor would make holes to look for beams, but I thought it would be mentioned that there is a beam running along ceiling where part of what appears to be load bearing wall is missing. If that makes sense? 

When you say "beam", what exactly is visible? Generally all you can see is what looks like the top bit of a wall (because it's covered with plasterboard or other decor) and you hope there's something structural under there.

LDreader

davidmcn said:

LDreader said:

davidmcn said:

Assuming there are no apparent signs of resulting defects, the Home Report wouldn't normally say more than mention that there appears to have been past alterations taken place (and the solicitors should check for consents) - does it not even say that? No "normal" survey is going to e.g. make holes in the plasterboard and look for beams etc, they'll just tell you whether or not everything looks like it should. It's not normal to get structural engineers in for something like this.

As for the beam, perhaps I’m not using the right word but it is visible running along ceiling from where interior wall stops to the exterior wall. I didn’t think Home Report surveyor would make holes to look for beams, but I thought it would be mentioned that there is a beam running along ceiling where part of what appears to be load bearing wall is missing. If that makes sense? 

When you say "beam", what exactly is visible? Generally all you can see is what looks like the top bit of a wall (because it's covered with plasterboard or other decor) and you hope there's something structural under there.

I’ve put photos up. That’s why I thought it would be mentioned in Home Report so we would know there could be a structural problem. As there’s no permission or certificates, that’s why I think we need a structural survey so we know it’s done properly.

davidmcn

Ok. The surveyor isn't going to say "there's a beam there", because you can't see one. The most they'll do is comment on any obvious structural problems.