buying a property with subsidence

[miserableatwork]

There is a house I would like to buy that has suffered from subsidence (pretty sure its historical).
It is a victorian semi and I know the people who live in the other half. Their half was underpinned prior to them buying it.
We do not know if the party wall has been underpinned, I believe this will be the most invasive and expensive. My friend hasn't got a record of shared work done so she is assuming not but is there any official way of finding out? I'm thinking if they have managed to get a mortgage on the property that it must have been underpinned to a satisfactory level.
Anyone who has had any experience dealing with this who could share their experiences or knowledge please let me know what you think.

My parents house had subsidence, it was built on clay. It was underpinned. New cracks appeared constantly, it was like decorating the 4th bridge. Consequently I would never buy a house on heavy clay or with subsidence.

I once bought a semi that had a good survey, no history of subsidence at all. Then a short time later, the family in the adjoining semi told me that their house had been underpinned years previously and was therefore holding my house up! Luckily because it was historical, we didn't have any problems insuring or selling, but I did find it strange that in a pair of semi's, one has subsidence, the other not and, the survey (full structural one) didn't reveal any problems with my house.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the house you're interested in might not have been underpinned at all and a survey wouldn't necessarily reveal anything about neighbouring houses.

Is it possible that they can tell if it is historical or not? If it is not currently moving would it still need to be underpinned and if it wasn't underpinned would it effect the resale of it?
It does have some signs on subsidence but I wonder if this is from where the next door property moved, taking ours with it.
We are hoping we can get it for a good price and my husband can underpin some parts if need be.

There is so much to consider!

I bought a house with what was considered historical movement. I am convinced there was more to that. I have somewhat become the expert of cracks. Even though there weren't many cracks, I could see new ones appearing inside and outside, and widening. Later I found out that my neighbour's house was underpinned 20 years ago and still moving and getting cracks. I have read somwhere that the neighbour to an underpinned house is the worst because the underpinning holds your house up, while your side of ground could be still moving.

Insurance was also a problem, higher premium than usual and only via specialist insurance.

In short, I would be very wary of buying a house with such problems again, because while my friends were all looking to decorate their kitchens or living rooms, I was stressed out measuring the cracks or reading about house structures or saving up for a structural engineer's visit. I just wanted to feel 'normal' again.

But then many of my friends wouldn't even pay attention to the brickwork.

Structural engineers would monitor a crack by measuring/photographing it and then repeating it again in a year's time. If the crack is historical and no longer a problem, the crack would not have increased in size. Obviously if the crack has got bigger then the problem is still there. It is possible that the house may have cracks due to the subsidence next door and the subsequent underpinning has remedied the problem. This is why you would hope these cracks were historic, i.e. now that underpinning in the neighbour's property has been carried out, the cracking on your house merely needs to be patched up. If the underpinning is failing however, you would expect these cracks to increase in size. If you can get a finger into the crack, that is a problem, whereas hairline cracks are not usually cause for worry.

Thanks everyone for the replies.
Unfortunately, this property is being sold by informal tender at what we think it a pretty high price if underpinning of the central wall needs to be carried out as well as full renovation and replacing an extension on the back.