Does possible subsidence ever come up on a house buying buildings survey and turn out OK?

[SheWouldNever]

Just had the building survey back on the house we are trying to buy. Signs of possible movement is mentioned in the over garage first floor bedroom.

This garage conversion was done years ago in the 90s and the first floor extension was done in the early 00s by the next owners and I am speculating that maybe the foundations weren’t deep enough to support the floor above, but we are waiting on confirmation of all building regs, etc.

Anyway, naturally our mortgage lender has asked for a structural survey report and if it notes movement we won’t be able to purchase this house (not just because it’s unlikely that the bank won’t agree to lend, but also because we don’t have the time to wait the months it would take to confirm if the movement is current or not - we need to move house sooner than that).

So far we’ve spent a couple of grand on the buildings survey, solicitor fees and searches. The structural report will be another £1k, so I’m wondering how likely it is that we will spend this money only for the report to tell us that the house is a no go? Or in other words, how often are houses surveyed for subsidence and it actually turns out that the house is structurally sound?

Our structural engineer said that the only way to be 100% sure is to dig underneath and check the foundations, which they can't really do. It'll be their best, educated guess, which might satisfy the lender but not necessarily you. Having had even just a small amount of movement in a previous house, I'd walk away unless you really like the house. It was a nightmare getting home insurance etc and I really worried we wouldn't be able to resell.

On the flip side, people get scared by subsidence and it's not always a massive deal, often it's historic and it's actually finished settling.