Structural survey making me need all of the chocolate and a cry...

[Kittypillar]

So our buyers structural survey has flagged an issue with our garden walls. They're about as old as our house probably (80+ years) so we weren't exactly shocked but this report honestly reads like a disaster film - "serious health and safety risk to the owners and general public" etc! Tiny bit dramatic we thought, but we also acknowledge they are pretty old and probably do need work, so we are having a conversation with our buyers about it. There are several walls that need demolishing and replacing apparently.

Anyway, our buyers are now getting quotes to get repairs done but they've told us the quotes they're getting are for full replacement walls (1.8m high and for all three walls of +10m long, gulp!) . A couple of our neighbours who have replaced similar walls have gone for a 9/10 inch wall with fencing on top, which they've told us was far more reasonably priced. They warned us we'd be looking at a fortune to replace all the walls fully, so I'm dreading these quotes coming in... Are we in a position to suggest this smaller wall + fence option to our buyers while they get quotes, or do we just have to let them get on with it and negotiate when they approach us with them? First time I've ever sold a house so I'm very very a bit anxious about it and sellers have (so far) seemed very reasonable, so we don't want to create any ill-feeling if we can help it. Would love to hear any similar stories about how other people have navigated similar horror stories created from a survey when selling...

Thanks for the words of advice everyone. Our buyers are getting tradespeople round for quotes and we'll just take it from there negotiating I suppose. We're also going to get our own quotes too so we have a clear idea of what all the options are and what costs could be. I've been losing a bit of sleep over it all stupidly, but DH is thankfully a lot more chilled about the whole thing and thinks, even if we have to do the work ourselves and relist, it won't be the end of the world.

Thanks @Fridakahlofan - we actually have no idea what the survey valued the house at as they haven't told us what it said. Sorry if this sounds like a daft question but can we ask for that information? Judging from the other properties on our street/local area, the work we've done to improve the house ourselves (shame we didn't think the wall was a priority at the time!), we suspect they've got a decent deal...

As DH is s Structural Engineer I would say he wouldn’t leave dangerous high walls to a tradesperson to design and sort out! You must take soil conditions, neighbouring trees, use of wall, height of wall, wind and weather conditions into account. Up to you though. And walls do fall down.

If you haven’t maintained them, are you insured? That would worry me. Of course your buyers might walk if you play hard ball but they won’t if they think the house is a good deal. However these walls do cost thousands so be warned! Collier Stevens has some good advice. I’ve attached screen shots.

@BubblesBuddy this is the bit I don't understand - it's been happily handed over to builders and yet the report read so badly? We've actually had a family friend who is a structural engineer look at it, who thinks the buyers surveyor has over-exaggerated how bad it is. It's an old wall that will need work at some point in the not-so-distant future, sure (we figured the same), but it's certainly not an immediate danger to anyone, or going to collapse with gusty weather or if someone walks by at any point currently. Not really sure whether to let the buyers know this - worried it'll sound like we're trying to shirk our responsibilities there and we're absolutely not, we just want to be sure there's clarity on what needs to be done and how we can negotiate it fairly.

We are insured, yes, although I suspect not for gradual wear and tear. I need to investigate that properly though.

Thanks for the screenshots, that's really helpful.

*know this yet I mean. I think we're conscious that we don't want it to look like we're just trying to duck out of it and rubbish their report, if that makes sense?

If you have had a Structural Engineer look at it then you have evidence that it’s not so bad. Structural engineer trumps surveyor! This is the position you negotiate from. Could your engineer write a report? Then negotiate a reduction based on that? That seems reasonable to me. The surveyor might have frightened themselves! Hope it works out anyway.