Mortgage requiring structural survey... should we pull out?

[optimisticpessimist01]

Full details of our mortgage approval came back today. Before we can proceed with it we need a structural survey carrying out.

The quote from the report reads "evidence of movement was noted in the form of cracked driveway, cracking to the rear wall masonry and leaning boundary wall. This appears significant and progressive. Obtain a report from a qualified structural engineer on the stability of the house".

We have also since discovered that a culvert runs under the house too.

We loved the house but we are unsure of our next move. We have been informed that a structural report will cost £1,000+ is this true for our requirements? Should we even bother with the report and just pull out? We are first time buyers so completely clueless on this situation.

Yes that is about right for a structural report but the words movement that appears significant and progressive would really, really put me off.
Then add in the culvert and I would seriously consider this property.

If you absolutely love the house, yes you could get the structural report done but you may then spend £1,000 plus to decide that you need to walk away anyway. To be honest these issues would put off a lot of people, let alone a first time buyer! They would seriously put me off and I have bought 4 properties in my time.

Get the report.
Better to spend £1000 + getting a comprehensive structural report than spend ££ fixing structural issues.
I always do a structural report when buying a house and then think about whether I could negotiate some money off the purchase price or pull out .
If the house is underpriced , I factor this into the equation and may decide not to ask for a reduction

Depends how much you love the house, and how much work you want to do, a full structural report from a qualified surveyor will cost into the thousands, and this would not include any test holes or camera work, assuming the survey finds there is movement You’ll be in an extremely good negotiating position, and the seller won’t want to pull out, you’ll have the report and any new purchaser would have to go through the same process so you could knock a considerable amount of the sale price and I would negotiate a price reduction based on compensation for the disruption and time the work will take and not just the cost of the repairs, you could ask the seller to pay for the report but that puts them in a better position as they can then show this to other potential buyers and price property accordingly

100% get the structural survey. My parents are currently have their subsidence fixed in their house. It’s going through the insurance luckily but yours may not cover it if you knew about the issue before buying the house.

Agree that if there is significant structural issues, I would pull out

*currently having

We've never bought a house without doing a full structural survey. However, we've also never been asked to do one as a requirement of a mortgage - it's been more of a belts and braces approach for us to make sure we're going into a big purchase with our eyes wide open.

I would have to really love the house to proceed with the survey on the basis they believe cracking to be significant and progressive. So I guess it depends on how likely you would be to pull out if the structural report was bad - or whether you'd be prepared to undertake remedial works as to whether the investment of the survey is worth it.

The decision we are making is whether to go through with the survey and continue with the purchase (depending on what comes up), or just pull out before we get round to doing the survey.

We do have the spare cash to spend on it but I don't want to waste £1k if it unearths problems that are way out of our budget and remit.

You should go back to the agent and ask for the vendor to obtain the structural engineers report (and pay for it). Ask your mortgage broker to make the call if you don’t want to. You may find it’s long standing in nature (common). If it’s moving the lender will not lend so you won’t be able to buy it.

Unless it's the perfect house in the perfect location that you'll live in long-term, I would pull out now.

We have recently pulled out of a sale for similar.

If it is subsidence I would have thought the vendors would be better off claiming to have it fixed via their insurance rather than discount the sale price and the remarket.

Of course this depends on their personal circumstances and what/why they are moving, but I wouldn't think many people could afford to fix subsidence out of their own pocket (which is essentially what you'd be asking them to do) and then pay moving costs etc.

I would go back to the vendor and ask them if they have ever had the cracks investigated. If so and there is a reasonable explanation then go ahead with the structural survey to double check.

If not then I'd probably walk away and save the cash.

Before you do anything, ask the vendors if they are open to further negation if the structural survey recommends immediate and essential work.
That way it might help make the decision for you without spending a penny.
If they're not gonna budge no matter what, there is very little point in forking out for one IME
It's a tough one!

It's a nice house, not a dream house, we are fed up of renting and desperate to move but its just an average semi-detached house. The house was their parents who passed away but they own it, so not sure where they stand on insurance purposes.

Think we are leaning slightly towards pulling out unless the vendors are willing to pay for the survey.

All your responses are helpful, thank you

Unless they own the house outright, I didn’t think you could have a mortgage without insurance...

I don't know if this makes a difference but the neighbours came round last night as we called in to look at the cracked drive and wall (the house is vacant, however we probably looked suspicious) and they were very helpful, saying that the garden flooded when it rained which is another red flag for us too.

Apologies I read your op again and realised you said you’re first time buyers, in your case I would walk away, whilst there are huge saving to be made from buying a property with these kinds of issues, on top of going through the usual stress of a purchase you’ll be heading for a huge learning curve in understanding what you’re buying and the work involved to rectify, unless you already know people in the building trade or want this level of project in your life leave it well alone

@user1471528245

Apologies I read your op again and realised you said you’re first time buyers, in your case I would walk away, whilst there are huge saving to be made from buying a property with these kinds of issues, on top of going through the usual stress of a purchase you’ll be heading for a huge learning curve in understanding what you’re buying and the work involved to rectify, unless you already know people in the building trade or want this level of project in your life leave it well alone

The house is already a doer-upper, with every room needing new carpets and repainting as a minimum. It would also need a completely new bathroom and kitchen, and an internal wall knocking down to make a bigger kitchen/dining room too. We are probably biting off more than we can chew with this. We also have no experience of building trade, nor do we know anybody with the trade that would help us out too

Based on everything you've said, I would pull out. More average houses will come along, with or without the doing up nature if you don't want it, and without the structural/culvert/flood issues.

Even though you're desperate to move, you'll regret it in the long run if you do something you're uncertain about.

How much was you expecting all this to cost to do up? Trades are so expensive and busy at the minute we brought our first house to do up 3 bed semi and cost over 40k with friends doing the work, so a 1k survey is nothing compared to what costs you will face.

Step away from the culvert house. You’ll be liable for repairs, and flood risk if it blocks under your property.

I’m a flood risk engineer. I write several letters a year to private householders informing them of this, because we’ve identified flooding from their culvert. They are almost always unaware. Culvert repairs are complicated, messy, disruptive and expensive.

@BikeRunSki

Step away from the culvert house. You’ll be liable for repairs, and flood risk if it blocks under your property.

I’m a flood risk engineer. I write several letters a year to private householders informing them of this, because we’ve identified flooding from their culvert. They are almost always unaware. Culvert repairs are complicated, messy, disruptive and expensive.

Thank you for this, I wasn't aware of the severity of it. I presumed it was pretty safe to have under the house (this is just from a very quick Google image as what a culvert actually is as I had no idea), and naively assumed that it must be perfectly fine otherwise they wouldn't put it there.

If you are a flood risk engineer and wouldn't touch a culvert house then we will take that very seriously and I think we will now walk away.

Good move @optimisticpessimist01
There will be other houses.

Yes the culvert aspect is bad enough on its own. Then add in the movement plus flooding I think you would be wise to walk away. You really don’t need this level of difficulty. Another house will come along without these issues.

I wouldn't auto walk away, i'd get the survey done & price for any repairs, then negotiate if I still liked the house.