Should I forget this house?

[RoxieLoxy]

Sorry no link as I don't think anyone else has viewed it yet in person and I don't want to be recognisable 😁

Viewed a beautiful house. Ticks a lot of boxes for us. It's very old (Victorian). When viewing we noticed sloping floors on one side upstairs. I just thought it was nice and added character (!).

Looked outside and noticed diagonal cracks running along the same side through the mortar (and a couple of bricks). Googled and it looks very much like subsidence.

Should I try to forget this house and find something else? Or is there hope it might be 'ok' because of the age of the property?

I can try to get some info from the owners but I don't know much about subsidence - is it a deal breaker instantly?

Thanks

It would be for me. My rule is “don’t buy a problem”.

Could you get a survey done and an estimate for remedial works to see if it’s manageable? If it’s at the stage where floors are visibly slanted, it sounds like it could be a big job.

Thanks @Slanty. I'd be happy to do that but DH isn't as keen as me on the house anyway so I think we'd have to leave it.

I had mentally moved in already - I really need to stop doing that as I keep getting disappointed!!

The house we’re buying has a sloping floor and a few stepped cracks in another part of the wall which was picked up in the survey. I was convinced it was subsidence and I was distraught because it took ages to get an offer accepted and I’d already planned out the full renovation.

We paid for a structural survey which cost as much as the normal one but concluded no subsidence! We have a bad floor joist to replace and the stepping was from adding an extension 50 years ago.

It may not be as bad as you think but it’s expensive having a structural survey etc to check if your offer is accepted, maybe not worth going down that path if your husband isn’t keen anyway.

Thanks @rrrrrreatt that's good to know. There was also an extension added to this house so I'm wondering if that could have moved things about a bit although the cracks are all in the old part.

Is yours an old house?

I had mentally moved in already - I really need to stop doing that as I keep getting disappointed!!

Been there! Would love to be one of these people who doesn’t get emotionally attached to houses I’m interested in, but it’s tough.

Best of luck and I hope you get the right house for you- either this one, or something even better.

Thank you @Slanty 🙂

It’s early 1930s so relatively old! It’s not been well maintained (v dated but also visible gas pipes, random sections of low ceilings, doors plastered over, unusable cupboards, etc) which may explain why the extension caused stepping.

Is there any chance someone else has already had it surveyed and you could "buy" that survey?

Thanks @chocolatevelvet. I've now asked the agent if they can get any info on it but DH thinks they don't have to tell us. Not sure which of us is right. It looks like the mortar has been replaced at least once so surely they're aware of it. Still hoping there's a simple explanation but as I've not heard anything back I'm probably being too optimistic!

@rrrrrreatt I'd love a 1930s house. Please can I ask it you paid for the structural survey before putting an offer in? Or do you only do that once it's accepted?

I am not managing to forget this house! And DH has agreed that he'd probably go for it if we got it for a good price (unless it's falling down 😬).

We’re very lucky, I really love the style of 1930s properties and our house still has a few original features left.

We did the structural survey after our offer had been accepted. You don’t want to shell out for surveys only to be unsuccessful!

We had a RCIS level 3 survey and then a structural survey because it flagged the stepped cracking and wonky floor. Those two were over a grand combined so it’s a fair whack, still cheaper than fixing a house that’s fallen down though.

Get a survey done. Cracks in a building of that age, and sloping floors are not unusual due to shallow foundations, especially if an extension has been added at some point. I certainly wouldn't discount it on that basis only.

It sounds lovely @rrrrrreatt. The one I like has lots of original features too, there's just nothing else like it (in the right area). Thanks for the info on the survey.

Thanks @Itsonlyagame. The extension added was to the side (not above) - might that have still had an effect? So the newer bit was added to the side (2 story extension). Thanks