Building survey problems - what next?

[MunsteadWood]

In the process of buying a house as part of upsizing / relocation. Our buyers have been in place more than 6 months now, market hot where we're moving so quite a slog to secure somewhere to move to, similar for our sellers to find their onward purchase.

The house we've ended up going for is a bit of a fixer upper which is not really what we were looking for (with toddler and new baby due imminently) but it's a great location, lots of potential etc and good price.

Survey results just back were mixed. Some good things (new roof, good windows, no signs of damp, etc), but some problems. Most we had anticipated as the house (1900s) needs serious "modernisation" but one thing uncovered is that the chimney breasts have been removed from inside the house but stacks left unsupported in the loft. One stack wasn't accessible during the survey but the other shows signs of cracking and slight movement, and is just resting on the ceiling joists. Chimneys and ceilings are perfectly fine though (at the moment!). Surveyor (a local guy and well qualified/reviewed) recommends removing the stacks and chimneys as simplest solution but given the house is a terrace so chimneys are joined to next door I'm not sure whether this is actually possible. Another option is to support with steels but presumably this is a big job?

I'm waiting to speak again to the surveyor to see how serious he thinks this is (eg might the stack come crashing through the ceiling while we sleep, so does it need to be done before we move in) and implications for party wall. We've also written to the council re theoretical removal of stacks. Thinking once we've got more info we'll then start contacting local builders for estimates etc and consider options.

Is there anything else we should be doing? Really reluctant to pull out at this stage but also mindful that this is possibly a big job on top of lots of other big jobs already planned, and with two small children (and pets!) in the mix.

As others have said you need a builder and surveyor
Tell your solicitor what is going on as you don't want to run up legal costs if you might not go ahead
Your solicitor will need to report to the lender
I would be very wary of going ahead but I am risk adverse
Will the seller be open to any of this
Thinking about what would happen if you spend time and money getting reports and seller won't renegotiate

So the surveyor was actually quite reassuring.

Says he doesn't think there is an immediate safety risk and that we could definitely still move in prior to works being done, but that we should look to remedy ASAP and before starting other renovations. This all feels a bit counter intuitive but he was confident he knows these houses well / how they are built and has seen this issue plenty of times before.

Apparently one chimney stack should be fine to remove as it is ours (not shared), and the other he thinks is probably adequately supported by brick buttressing which he can see in an outside passageway, but as he wasn't able to access the loft he can't say 100%. Suggested we go ahead with purchase then get someone in to have a proper look - worst case he reckoned we'd need a hole punching in the ceiling in one of the bedrooms and steel bracket / beam put in but reckoned this would be manageable and we'd be able to live there while works being done. For both chimneys he said we might need to get party wall agreement signed (which would add to cost) but the neighbours wouldn't ultimately be able to prevent us from doing the works.

I've got a relative who is a structural engineer so think I'll get his opinion too (and perhaps still call a builder?) but am feeling a bit better about all this. He seemed to suggest it was an issue which would hopefully be fairly straightforward to fix, and certainly much more so than kitchen, bathroom, loft renovation etc which we have planned anyway.

That sounds more positive
Problem is of course if you go ahead and buy and it is a bigger problem you will be stuck with it

Your surveyor sounds sensible. I would also get local builder to have a look and give you a quote. We did this and it was very helpful and reassuring.