Cracks in walls of recently purchased house

jimmyboy82

Ok, so small update and looking for abit of advice, since moving in, we unfortunately had to self isolate so was able to unpack further, and evaluate the house, so far I have uncovered probably circa of 50 + cracks, in either the walls, ceilings or coving. Clearly something has happened between the homebuyers survey and completion. Does anyone know where I stand with this legally? Is it I've signed on the dotted lines so it's my problem? I can only assume that something happened after the homebuyers survey and completion l. I genuinely don't think the amount of cracks that have been found the surveyor would of passed the structure as satisfactory, nor would I of gone any further in the process of buying had I of seen them. Would the seller have to disclose the fact that lots of cracks have appeared? After close inspection, there has been areas which have been patched up, its very clear to see, especially in the plaster board and coving this has happened. 
I'm tempted to ask the surveyor to come back, but the obvious answer is that he will say it happened after he had visited it and not his problem. 
I get that sinking feeling that this is going to turn into an expensive headache, really through no fault of my own, any suggestions??

davidmcn

Having read the replies you've already had, why are you convinced the cracks are a significant problem? 

jimmyboy82

Hi David, I can only assume these cracks have happened very recently, otherwise the surveyor would of flagged the issue. The house is 1980's with an extension, maybe 2 years ago roughly, so could be settlement from that, but the cracks are in every room in the house, and you get that gut feeling that something is wrong. There are gaps in the banister uprights, as we knocked one out accidentally with very minimal force, door frames have cracks in them, some of the skirting boards have slightly come away from the walls. Its pointing to foundation movement, again which we wasnt aware of before moving in 

HampshireH

How long did you have between survey and exchange as foundations don't just move significantly overnight.

jimmyboy82

Hi, so survey was completed on the 15th September, and we completed on the 10th December. It had taken ages to get the local searches to come back, so roughly 3 months.
But I'd bet my last quid, had the surveyor come a couple of weeks ago the report would of been different, I'm sure of it. 

Mutton_Geoff

Is this your first house? Are there others in the street like it? Have any fallen down? It’s unlikely to be anything serious, perhaps just a result of the heating being on the last couple of months.
It’s unlikely the surveyor will be interested but if you were concerned between the original survey and exchange, you could have had a closer look yourself or commissioned another survey. Once you exchange and complete, all liability rests with you. Surveys are part of your due diligence and valid at that moment in time, not a lifelong guarantee.

They look pretty trivial to me. What does the outside look like?

jimmyboy82

Hi Geoff, this is not the first house I have bought, I'm not sure about the situation in regards to the rest of the houses in the street as we've been isolating and not able to talk to anyone. Our house does have a large tree at the bottom of the garden maybe 20 + metres away, but that would of been there before the house, and has a preservation order on it. 
In regards to being concerned, I wasnt, i hadnt noticed too much when we viewed the house, the surveyor picked up a couple of cracks, and was happy they wasnt recent, in turn I think I'm quite realistic, and accept that cracks can occur and small movement can happen, but I had no indications from either my visit or the surveyors visit that another surveyor was needed, I mean I didnt see too much on my visit, and the surveyor had scored it with no issues.
As you said, liability rests with me, but if I dont know about it, and the seller does, do they have to tell me about them? I know I put a couple of photos on, but that I'd from one specific sort of area, there must be 6 or 7 cracks in most of the rooms, whether it being on the ceiling or walls or coving, some are from patched up work, what's making me a little more suspicious is ine of the photos shows the crack, which was taken after the surveyor had been,  the original one was worse than that, which means the seller had at least tried to patch it up after for some reason, I'll post a pic after this message 

jimmyboy82

jimmyboy82

So the first picture was what we were left with, the second is what the surveyor originally took, I dont understand why you would try and fix something after, just doesn't make much sense, obviously there are other cracks in the same room

Mutton_Geoff

Looking at all the other houses in your road, they all look pretty standard construction. Yours is not the one with all the ivy over the outside is it? That would certainly be cause for concern

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