Surveyor failed to mention that partition wall to neighbour was just a stud wall, not structural

[cloudcoockoo]

...well, subject says it all! After forking out for a proper building survey (structural one), we feel rather disappointed by the survey report. Most importantly, the survey does not mention that the partition wall between our children's and our neighbour's bedroom is not a proper structural wall (as you would expect in an 1840s terrace) but just a simple stud wall.

This means our neighbour can hear every bit of sound from our children's bedroom and vice versa. Although she is lovely and very understanding, and we built in a soundproofing layer as soon as we found out, we still feel uncomfortable letting the kids play in their room before 9am.

Am I right in thinking the surveyor should have flagged this up? It was not hard to spot - DH found out just by knocking on the wall.

He also didn't mention two big wasp nests in the attic (no longer inhabited, to be fair!).

I also have reservations about the quality of the survey because it consists mainly of general information about the surveyor's methodology, general waffle about what you would expect in houses of this period, etc.etc, i.e. stuff he could have just copied and pasted, and relatively little info relating specifically to the house itself.

Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? Would it make sense to ask for our money back? Many thanks in advance!

Not being funny but why did dh not knock it before you moved in? Not sure it is something that would necessarily get put in a survey, ditto old wasp nests.

Finding a stud wall is really odd. I dont think it is something that you would expect a surveyor to pick up as it is so unusual that i have never heard of it!

Were the 2 properties one house at any time?

I think you should get the surveyor back to advise on this - try for no cost. They will not be obliged to but might as a goodwill gesture. There are fireproofing issues which need to be sorted before the noise.

You could try your local history library for old maps and plans for your house. A history review might throw up other things that need sorting.

How has it happened? Was your house and your neighbour's house once part of the same house and have been divided? If you've paid for a full survey, I'd definitely contact them to discuss what should have been pointed out to you. Our survey failed to pick up that a whole back wall had been knocked down and rebuilt at some stage. Our neighbour told us about 4 years later and the bricklayer noticed it when building an extension so cleary obvious to those in the know