Our survey found Settlement/Subsidence -WWYD?

[SmallBee]

We have had a homebuyers survey back on the property we are buying and they have said the following:

"The property shows evidence of some settlement...this is evidenced by the diagonal cracking to the head and underside of the living room window opening & distortion to the brick work & living room opening.
A majority of the movement appears to be of a long standing nature. Whilst future significant movement seems unlikely you should have the drainage system tested prior to proceeding with the purchase to establish if any remedial works are required. The brickwork should be cut back and re-stitched to help maintain structural integrity. "

I'm really nervous about this, I'm concerned it will be hard to find affordable insurance and that it will be tricky to resell the property. If you had this come back on your report would you still buy the house? Would you ask for a reduction in price? If anyone has any other advice I would really appreciate it.

the other thing I am concerned about is that the survey valued the property at £25k under what we are paying for it. We offered £15k under the original asking price. Is this common or should we be trying to negotiate?

Is it a forever home that you would be happy forking out up to 50K more for remedial works? It might be that it is the drains have collapsed (which is what I am reading between the lines) or it might be that it is heavy clay soil which has been affected by the few dry seasons we had prior to all this rain.

It might be worth phoning the surveyor and seeing if they are willing to give more information over the phone than they will put in writing, or ask a friendly builder if they can give some advice.

But if you're not sure I would pull out of the sale.

I would want further investigation before negotiating in any way (assuming you are going to continue). I would want a specialist to look to see a) the movement has stopped, b) what has caused the movement and c) what remedial works have been carried out/need to be done. The worry words to me are "A majority of the movement appears to be of a long standing nature".

The drainage survey can be done fairly cheaply and a lot of firms offer this service, and is a pretty routine request (to cover themselves as much as anything).

I am curious as to why it is valued at less than you are paying as well.

But I have become more concerned about subsidence recently.

With regards to the insurance, you can phone your present company for a quote and see what they say.

Thank you so much for your help

We'd like to live there for a long time, but we don't really have the kind of cash to spend fixing it up as we are already stretched quite thin with our budget.
We're getting some more advice from professionals & will order the drains inspection & call the surveyor. Thank you.