Do we need a structural engineer or just a builder

[BigRedBoat]

Homebuyers report for the house we're purchasing has a couple of concerning points -

Serious deterioration has occurred to the wall surfaces caused by defective steel lintels above the kitchen and living room doors and windows requiring extensive repairs.

The garage is in poor condition, due to subsidence and cracking to brickwork and has been poorly maintained. It is of no economic value and demolition and reconstruction, if required is the most realistic option. You should obtain estimates prior to exchange of contracts.

Do we need to get a structural person to investigate these points further or can we just get a couple of builders quotes, I.e will a builder know what is needed just by looking or is a more in depth report needed?

A builder would need structural engineer's calculations for the size of the steels. For something like that building control would probably be involved as well. (DH a builder btw)

They sound pretty serious! Are you still going to buy the property?

PizzaPlanet it depends how much it would cost to repair, we really like the house and it has a lot of potential for an extension but I don't want it to fall down!

You need to decide about insurance. A new insurer isn’t going to insure this so what is the owner going to do about it? You need a Structural engineer’s report and an indication of cost. Subsidence is expensive to repair but you have been advised to demolish. Therefore new foundations are needed plus designs for the garage. Again a SE will need to design the foundations. Is the house ok? Does the garage join the house? This might also cause concern if the foundations are different depths.

Houses can use concrete lintels above doors and windows so these could be installed. So what is the deterioration that has been caused by steel ones? This is odd. Do you have pictures? Repairs means what, exactly? Are the walls subsiding too? Cracks? What state are the bricks in? This is expensive and you sound a bit naive to be honest. Get a lot of money off the price because it will be a money pit!

Actually, just thinking back to a house I was going to buy a number of years ago - it had a large crack which was potentially subsidence and this was flagged up in the mortgage valuation. The mortgage lender said they would only lend if we could get the property insured. We approached a few companies who said no and they basically said that it was the current owners problem, it was up to them to pay for a structured engineers report to prove if the property was structurally sound or not, and if necessary get repairs done through their insurers. We pulled out of the purchase as the vendor was unwilling to comply. Perhaps you could try this tactic? At least then you’ll have a better idea of the severity of the problem.

I think we will get a structural engineers report and see what it says, if the garage is demolished it wouldn't be the end of the world but I would want the price to reflect that it's a house without a garage. The garage is detached and there was no mention of subsidence in the house so if the garage was gone presumably insurance wouldn't be an issue?

I don't know how the surveyor knows what the lintels are made of, you can't see them and I didn't notice any cracks. I think a more in depth report would definitely help and I think I would prefer for the vendors to rectify any issues rather than just reduce the price. I think we will start looking at other houses again just in case.

I would be very concerned about this, OP, and it would prevent me buying or giving the house any further consideration. To rectify those significant structural problems will take considerable time and money. Also, house and buildings insurance premiums will be greatly increased for ever more and not all insurance companies will consider providing cover for a property with similar history. Furthermore you may have problems trying to sort a mortgage in the first place.
Thank goodness you had a decent full survey carried out.

Did the owners put in the lintels during their time at the house? I.e did they create a kitchen/diner and put in inadequate lintels.
If so was it under building control?

I would also just try and find out when the garage was built as building controls would have covered these situations. I would be wary buying a house that has had diy'ers doing it without building regulations.
Is there an issue with subsidence in the area, built on clay or is the garage unique?

The valuation report was fine and the mortgage providers are happy to lend. The property was built in 1950 and I think the garage is original, it says it's on clay soil so perhaps that's the cause of the subsidence, it does worry me that it could affect the house but there are no signs of subsidence in the actual house. The door lintels appear original, there doesn't appear to have been any layout changes and although the windows have been changed to double glazed at some point they are in the same place as original (all the neighbouring properties are the same).

It's entirely possible that the garage foundations are poor but the house foundations are okay - for some reason they were quite happy to put in shallower or smaller foundations for garages and often didn't tie the garage walls/roof to the house.
The report paragraphs you have are vague at best - the steel lintels comment should elaborate on cause of defect plus remedy - same with garage issues.
I would get an engineer's or building surveyor's report and specifically ask them to include a specification of repair works - this can be accurately costed by a contractor and the cost deducted from sale price or vendor can do works before sale.
If you use an engineer or surveyor with Professional Indemnity Insurance to specify (and possibly oversee) works then Insurance companies will be happy enough that problems are resolved and they have someone to pursue if any problems occur.