HELP!! Is this subsidence!!

[Bumperpackit]

Someone please help me. My house has gone on the market and today someone mentioned to the estate agent that this could be a structural problem like subsidence?? Can anyone help me out as I’m panicking so much. I have called up a structural engineer but they have quoted me £800 plus vat and I’m going through a breakup with my partner and I literally do not have that kind of money to spare. What are your thoughts please.

Just to add this crack is at the side of a window we recently had replaced and noticed it after that occurred really.

Another picture attached

I’m no expert, but the cracks look too small to be subsidence. If they’re beside a newly-replaced window, are they not more likely to be a result of that?
You could measure them (width and length) every week and see if they get worse?

Have any neighbours got similar? It wouldn't just be your house on an estate, it would be a group of houses or a whole road

Slight more close up picture!!

I don’t think so.
Looks more like movement / settlement as a result of the new window. Movement will occur as the bricks resettle and get used to the weight adjustment.

Any buyer should get a structural element to the survey anyway that should put their and your mind at rest. As others have said, looks too small for subsidence imo!

The houses along our street are all very set back and detached from each other and are all varying in age. Mine being the newest of them but still built in the 1960s x

That’s what I told the estate agent today that I believed it was from where the new window was put in as wasn’t there before that. I just panic as it could be something more and the viewer mentioned it!!

No. Settlement from having new window fitted imo. Very, very minor cracking and not something I would be worried about.

I'd be put off by that a bit. And if the response was that it was caused by a new window I'd be tempted to walk away (in a normal property market).
A window isn't structural in a modern house - they are usually only fixed in 6 places to the hole in the brick leaf of the wall. There will be a lintel over the top of the window to take the weight of things above.

Your crack has broken bricks, not just mortar. So it needs 3 bricks to be replaced. It isn't a massive crack so unlikely to be problem subsidence, most likely due to slight movement of the house (normal settlement). Any cracks inside the house? Any cracks further down the wall (behind that roof?). Any drains in that area?

I think you are panicked given your situation, but without a professional opinion you can’t diagnose it here just by pictures. And neither can a prospective buyer who isn’t a trained structural engineer. It’s just opinion and feedback. A significant structural defect would show cracks internally. Do you have any? Is the window fitting still under warranty? What does the company who installed the window say? Do you have pictures before or after the work to prove the cracks were not there before the work was carried out? The onus is not on you to prove it is or is not subsidence as a vendor - you can still sell the house even if ot is subsidence, it would just be worth less. You can still sell quickly at an auction for example. What is a game-changer is actually knowing and paying for a survey that could reveal something you legally have to declare and is a double-edged sword. So deep breath, dig out before/after photos of the installation, approach the installer in the first instance and show the evidence and ask them prove their work has not caused is a structural defect so you can dismiss any such claims from here on in. Good luck!

There is cracking in the house but not behind the wall where the outside crack is. The cracking in the house is more hairline cracks in plaster and in the rooms above where we had a wall removed and a new longer steel beam put in. So put that down to when the renovation work below happened and the house settling after having a wall removed and an existing doorway wall widened.
Yes I have a man hole in the drive close by but has no problems with drainage or blocking etc all fine.
We recently had a survey done about 2 years ago as we got a new mortgage and they sent a surveyor round to look at the property, do an inspection and valuation and he said everything was fine in his report.

I would be a bit concerned by that crack. It's not necessarily subsidence but clearly something has moved at some point, with enough force to crack the bricks not just dislodge the mortar. It will need pinning or the bricks replacing.

I am quite crack-averse (having once owned a house with subsidence) but it would be enough to make me want to walk away from the house. Others may just see it as a simple job to repair.

So from What I’m gathering this is more than likely not subsidence which is what I’m most bothered about.

@Bumperpackit

So from What I’m gathering this is more than likely not subsidence which is what I’m most bothered about.

Subsidence is good news in so far as it will be covered by your insurance. Other structural problems may not be.

It’s not great that one of the bricks has cracked. It would be best to get a builder to replace the cracked bricks and do a bit of repointing.

Do you have lintels supporting above your windows? I ask because I had a similar aged house and it didn’t have any lintels and I had to put some in when replacing the windows.

I’m no expert, but the cracks look too small to be subsidence

Surely big cracks start off small? Subsidence does not mean the house suddenly drops forming massive cracks.

This could be something simple lile settlement after a little bit of hot dry weather or even delayed cracking from the window change. Or it might be a potential buyer wanting money off without having any clue whatsoever.

If you are selling why not ignore it? The buyer is responsible for getting the survey not you.

lile = little