Cracking where extension joins house

[karron]

Hello all, we've been to look at a house that is Victorian and them had a Victorian extension changing it from an L shape to a square house. Where the extension joins the house there is a long crack all down the wall which has come through the render. We asked the vender about it and she said an engineer had said it was due to foundations of different depths. Can anyone suggest how big a problem this would be if true?
Thanks - we really love the house but don't want it to fall down on us.

I'm afraid I don't have experience of a purchase with this problem as we bailed out, but fwiw the builder we took along to get quotes seemed to think it might not be necessary to do anything if it had stabilised, and gave us the number for a structural engineer for a proper opinion. That was a garage which had moved away from the house. Also a problem with different foundations, we think.

It depends how far gone the problem is - brickwork can be "stitched" together, metal reinforcements can lever it back to place. If it's really bad, it may need to be rebuilt. Get a specialist builder to have a look if you don't want to have a survey done at this stage.

Thanks for the replies, we intend to get a structural report if we decide to buy. It's a very scary crack!