Historical cracks from movement after extension

PM321

Hello all,
I wondered if you might put yourselves in a potential buyers shoes and let me know if this would put you off a house, or at least make you reconsider the price.

We bought our house 10 years ago and we are now in very early stages of thinking about downsizing.

When we bought it, the mortgage surveyor noted "signs of historical movement, but they appear not be an ongoing concern".

We brought this up with the vendors, who had no idea what the  mortgage surveyor was referencing.  We couldn't get any further info from the lender, but he valued it at the agreed price.  

I told our own surveyor at the time, who made a particular effort during the homebuyer report inspection, to find these "signs of movement."  He couldn't find any and put it down to the mortgage surveyor covering himself over-cautiously.  We also couldn't find anything, so we were happy to proceed.

Home insurers specifically ask if "movement" has ever been mentioned in a report, and a £1000 subsidence excess has been added to our home insurance policies (no increase in premiums).  I'm aware that the TA6 questionnaire will ask about insurance excesses.

5 years after moving in we thought we might have found what he was referring to.  We saw a couple of diagonal external cracks where a 1990s single-story extension meets the original structure.  I got in touch with a structural engineer, who advised (informally) that it was completely normal for these cracks to appear once the extension settles, particularly in the clay soils that we have.  As long as they don't get worse then it's nothing to worry about (They are about 2mm in width).  They haven't gotten any worse.

So do you think a potential buyer might be hesitant or want to negotiate over this?  Even though we're not worried about these settlement cracks, should we get a structural report in advance of putting the house on the market, or would a buyer prefer to arrange this for themselves anyway?

TIA 

NeverTooLate

When we bought our last home 23 years ago our surveyor noticed cracks in the front wall of the house and noted that it was old settlement and nothing to worry about. Whilst we lived there we remortgaged and had a mortgage survey, same comments.

Roll on 22 years and we come to sell the house. When the buyers surveyor arrived, I asked if I could show him the crack and the previous 2 reports from the other surveyors  - he laughed and told me he agreed with the previous surveyors. Sale went through without a problem.

Falafels

Having £1000 excess regarding subsidence claims is standard for buildings insurance, whether there's been any historic movement or not; it wasn't added to your policy specially. Don't worry about it, and you don't need to put it on a TA6 form!

- The mortgage surveyor said not to worry about the signs of historic movement
- Your own surveyor couldn't even find them!
- The structural engineer said they were nothing to worry about

I really would follow their advice, and if you're unlucky enough to get a chancer buyer who'd quibble about the 'cracks', tell them where to get off!

JJR45

Or get them scraped out and new mortar put in.
That is best practice as it stops water getting in and the cracks and  weathering more. (As long a they are historical they won't come back)

PM321

Thanks for all replies. 
I hadn't realised that a £1000 subsidence excess was standard.  This is our first house so never had insurance before.   Good to know.

Yes I think we will get the cracks repaired.  We had put it off just to keep and eye on them to check if they got any bigger.  

Wanderingpomm

Repair them, if they don’t re-emerge then you have nothing to worry about