Has anyone had lintels replaced?

[crapbarry]

We're in the process of buying a 3 bed house which needs some repair work carried out in order to release the whole mortgage (the lenders are holding back £1000).

The main work to be done is the house needs rewiring, and a lintel above the front window requires replacing (although the surveyor actually said there was no lintel there at all, and we needed one put in - but surely no lintel would = collapsed property?)

Unfortunately, the builder who visited the property to provide us with a quote on lintel replacement has got back to us today to say he couldn't access the property (visit was on Friday last week, and arranged when we got the mortgage paperwork through, so not sure why he waited until today to tell us), but it would normally cost about £900 to do the work. This sounds very very low to us, but we are FTBs, so we may just be assuming all building work costs more than we have.

We need to submit the mortgage paper work by monday or will lose our offer. I've phoned round some local builders to get one to actually provide a proper quote, but none have time before friday this week, and the estate agents can't let them in anyway.

Aside from banging our heads on a brick wall, we're now just having to chance it, and hope we can afford the repair work when we get a real quote, but it would be very useful to hear other people's experiences.

thanks :)

(I've posted this on the moneysaving expert forum too, in case anyone sees it there and goes 'hang on a minute!!')

We had something similar when selling our last property. New regulations are much stricter about lintels and having proper support above replacement windows. So on older windows, surveyors cover themselves if they can't see a lintel, and some lintels are steel plates built into the brickwork so you really can't see them. example

We were accused of having no lintel above a window the previous owner put in about 1980, we pointed out the window couldn't have physically been put in without one, and drilled holes up through the recess to prove there was the steel plate. Eventually everyone gave up and went through with the sale.

I guess would be a couple of days work for a builder if it did need replacing so the quote sounds about right.

How old is the property and the window in question, has it been altered from its original size?

sorry, example

thank you so much for replying! the property is estimated to be 1960s, and the window is a new UPVC one, dont think it has been altered in size though - it looks pretty much the same as every other house on the street.

DH's colleague told him we'd be looking at about £4000 minimum, as they ahd some work done whih included lintel replacement and paid near £6K for it all, so we were really worrying, but some googling has suggested that lintel replacement on one window should be nearer the £1K mark.

Who knew house buying could be so pricey?! :o

We thought a lintel was needed when we knocked down a wall between the dining room and kitchen. The surveyor said that it was a supporting wall, but turned out not to be. I asked one of the surveyors from the Council to come out and verify whether it was a supporting wall, as we had applied for Building Regs. It was not a supporting wall, so didn't need the lintel in the end.

My advice would be to verify with the Council whether it is needed as they are familiar with properties in your area and are familiar with the regulations.

I would be staggered if a 1960's house had no lintel, they were generally quite solidly built as long as it's of normal brick cavity wall construction and not concrete panels or anything weird. I would try and get a builder to actually look at it. What did the surveyor actually say, was it some weasel words like "no lintel was apparent so we advise that one is installed as it could be strucurally unsafe without one"? or is there some real sign of distress like cracking?

Exact words from HBR:
However, it was noted that there would appear to be no lintel over the very large living room window, and deflection of the brickwork was noted in addition to some settlement/slight cracking of the brickwork above.

luckily a friend has recommended her builder and he has agreed to go and look at it and provide quotes tomorrow, and I've got the EA to agree to hand over the keys. I'm sure it won't happen that simply, but so far, so good!!