Cracks, subsidence - selling house - what to do now?

stustu92

Hi all,

I need to know what to do now.

Our house is a 2 bed mid terrace. There are diagonal cracks in the plaster in the kitchen wall. These cracks have been in the wall since we bought the house ( i know we should have had them checked out when we bought but we didn't know any better - very stupid FTBs).

The cracks haven't got any bigger over the 4 years we've been in and they are only thin cracks IE less than the thickness of a 2p coin. As a precaution i phoned the insurance and they sent a surveyor to look at the cracks.

He said that he didn't think they were subsidence related but they need monitoring. That was at the start of may this year. Since then a camera survey has been done of the nearby drain and a test hole has been dug to the foundation near to the affected area with no conclusive findings.

Now the problem we are faced with is that we want to move, but as soon as we mention the monitoring of cracks to estate agents & buyers, they will run a mile wont they?

The surveyor says he will come out mid october to make a final decision on the cracks, but how is this all going to affect us wanting to sell?

I've got 3 valuations lined up over the next 2 weeks.

Help!

cedge

Personally, I would wait for the final say from the Surveyor in mid october (less than a month away). If it is not subsidence then I would repair the ceiling before getting the valuations done, then you would never need to mention monitoring of cracks ever again.

However if it is subsidence you must decide whether to 'hide' the cracks or not but, you have a duty (it's the law i believe) if asked to inform whoever whether that is the estate agents or potential buyers that you have subsidence.

theGrinch

it is unusual but not unknown for a mid terrace to have cracks leading to subsidence.

cracks are not always subsidence or heave. how old is your house?

causes of cracks could include but not limited to vibration (busy road, trainline), tree roots, mines, tunnels or drains or pressure on an end wall and even harmless plaster cracks!

stustu92

Grinch,

The house is 100 yrs old, built on top of old coal mines. Mortgage company's initial report said that there was some movement but it's long standing, and all of the houses here are like it.

My street is not a busy road and there aren't any trees nearby.

greenwich

Don't assume the worst. My house has cracks in the bay windows. They appeared a few years ago. We panicked and called the insurance company. They got a surveyor to monitor the house for 6 months and they said there is no subsidence. We also have a few other cracks here and there (80-year-old house) but the surveyor said that's just routine movement cracks.

If it turns out to be the same for you then just fill in the cracks, repaint and sell with a clear conscience. Even if you do have a problem you could still sell. There is no obligation for you to tell people about this. From memory, when the buyer's solicitor asks the vendor or his solicitor about the condition of the house, the reply usually comes back: "The buyer must rely on his own survey." You must not lie but you don't need to volunteer things either.

What annoys me in my case is that when I tried to get home insurance from esure.com their website said that if there were any cracks at all in the house they would not give a quote. Cherry-picking customers or what!?

Jake54

>The cracks haven't got any bigger over the 4 years

You don't know how long the cracks have been before you move in?
Is the plaster pink (gypsum) or white(lime plaster)?
Is the crack the same width all the way down?
If the cracks have not got any wider you have nothing to worry about.
It may be just settlement
New houses have settlement for a couple of years
What surveyors usually do, is fix glass tubes across the cracks in various places then monitor them. If they break then you have a problem.
Which is only a problem,
as regard money wise, Disruption and immediate resale.