Bolts on wall

[Flowerpowerr1]

Hi everyone, just viewed a house today and we loved it so much we put an offer in right away! However we missed something on the side of the wall and can’t get hold of the estate agent atm to ask what it is. My friend noticed it when she drove past and reckons the wall is collapsing.
I have attached the image below if someone knows what I might be please let me know.

It doesn’t LOOK as if the wall is collapsing. Those bolts could have been put there to stop it collapsing.

What’s on the other side of the wall? The bolts could be supporting something else.

At any rate I wouldn’t panic. There is plenty of time to find out what they’re doing and adjust your actions accordingly.

@NewFriendlyLadybird I agree it doesn’t look like it’s collapsing but it’s strange, on the other side is just the garden which is mainly patio and lawn, I hope it’s nothing serious

Is that a retaining wall? Where's the ground level on the other side?

@Tupster I think it might be as the garden is higher up?

I'd say they are some kind of wall anchors then. Might be part of the original construction or a repair. Sounds like your friend is being a bit of a stirring scaremonger to say it's collapsing.

They're retainers to stop the wall collapsing under the weight of the higher up garden behind.

You see it a lot in older properties but this looks like it's been built like that from new so shouldn't cause any problems.

Just don't ever remove them!

@DatingDinosaur Thank you and hopefully fingers crossed I’ve actually seen the wall on an old street view of the house and there appears to be cracks in the wall and no bolts so I think these bolts have been added to fix it so hoping there won’t be in any issues on the future …

They look like lateral support anchors to prevent movement of the wall. This movement might be caused by insufficient foundations or a design not robust enough for a retaining wall. Retaining walls have substantial weight against them. You should get a structural engineer to ascertain if the wall is doing its job. They can be efficient but I would want a detailed examination and appraisal of the wall. Do the vendors have drawings and details?

@Flowerpowerr1 This is usually a repair system. Not a system used from new. Retaining walls need to be designed to retain what’s pressing against them. This exerts considerable pressure and can lead to poorly designed walls to collapse. Therefore there should be a design approved by building regs. However this is almost certainly a repair solution unless the house is new.

Google streetview and look at the historical images. How hold have the supports been there? They might have been there a long time by design.

@TizerorFizz Is this something easy to fix? I was hoping the bolts would be enough to keep it from happening again, I haven’t mentioned it to the estate agent yet as we saw it after we put the offer in? I wonder if this is a reason why the house is priced at such a good price…
I have images of what the wall looked like before

This is the wall before

Just remember you cannot rely on anything the vendor or estate agent tell you about the wall. You need to rely on your own surveyor, or in this instance, potentially a specialist.