First time buyer - Horizontal crack on external wall
Hi,
Me and the mrs are looking to buy my first home in greater London for around £550k. I have offered on a property both myself and the Mrs really like which the owners claim was completely renovated by them around 5-6 years ago to the tune of close to £100k. Indeed it does look very nice inside. We were told no structural changes were done apart from knocking a wall to make a through lounge and making the upstairs bathroom 1m longer into one of the existing bedrooms.
During my first viewing with the estate agent, when looking at the property from the garden, I noticed the rear of the property had a very large diagonal, south easterly crack. The adjacent property had a similar crack in more or less the same place, albeit it was smaller and faced a south westerly direction. I raised this concern to the estate agent and he suggested it was the first time he had seen it too so wasn't aware it.
Fast forward 1 week later and we go for our second viewing, I have noticed the vendor has done a DIY job and plastered over the crack before I've had a chance to get the crack examined further.
I am wondering what I should do about this now. I really like the property but as a first time buyer...
- The size of the crack worries me
- The fact the adjacent property has a similar crack worries me
- The fact the vendor has plastered over the crack before I can get a Level 3 survey booked in worries me.
- Google searches indicate diagonal cracks are quite a bad sign?
What should I do?
The property is on a road which isn't flat but rather slopes downwards at one end. Not sure if that means it is more susceptible to subsistence or foundation issues?
Below is a picture taken by the estate agent on the property listing which shows the crack before anything was done to it. The crack on the neighbors property (on the right of the picture) is hard to see if at all, but starts at roughly the same place on the opposite site.
Comments (8)
Jonathan
3 years agoIs this it?
If so a surveyor will likely tell you the cause of the problem is likely minor and just an inexpensive cracked lintel over the window.
faz1701 thanked Jonathanfaz1701
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoHi Jonathan, thanks for your comment.
Should there be any concern as to the fact that the adjacent property has an almost identical crack albeit smaller, on the opposite side?
It seems to be a symmetrical crack on both properties at exactly the same place. Picture below...
The vendor seems open and genuine. I questioned them about any property concerns and this is what I was told...- When buying the property, the couple did not undertake their own private survey and the crack above the window has been there since they bought it. The reason he decided to cover it was because it has been there for 11 years and has never bothered them and didn't feel the need to worry about it. Since other potential buyers have also asked about it, he decided to just plaster it himself and save potential buyers the trouble of getting a builder to cover it, prior to selling the property. He is happy for any surveyor to remove the plaster to inspect it if needed.
- The cellar gets 1-2 inches or so of water occasionally. There is a river nearby (River Roding) and he referred to this as as 'water bank' or something like that. Again it has never bothered him so he hasn't ever done anything about it in the last 11 years as he keeps his stuff in the cellar and it's all raised off the ground, but he suggested this was an easy fix.
Based on these two points, I am wondering what the best steps are going forward.....
- Can a RICS Level 3 Building Survey identify if there is any major issue going on with the property? As far as I understand it, their inspection is purely visual and they can't remove any plaster to see anything underneath.
- Is a structural engineer report any different from a RICS Level 3 Building Survey. If so should I do it in addition to the above survey or instead of it?
- Should I be worried about the 'water bank' issue and 1-2 inches of water occasionally turning up in the cellar? This kind of worries me a lot but I'm inexperienced so not sure if this is an issue.
- Should I be concerned by the high decking and lack of ventilation? It looks like the decking is covering it all.
- I think there is signs of damp on the side bay window next to the covered ventilation brick?
Interested to know what you guys think.
ThanksRelated Discussions
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Comments (5)We recently did this on our renovation of a similar aged property, my dad was the builder so I’d trust that for us it was the best option and not a money making ploy. The old plaster was in an ok condition although I’m not sure how great it would have looked after the wall paper stripping. For us the pros and cons where: Pros: We could easily hide all the pipes and wiring inside the new walls. We could also put the plug sockets, light switches, internet ports, were ever we wanted them. We got a nice clean finish that’ll last and is inline with everything else that’s newly fitted. We could add insulation between the external walls and new plaster (we used Celotex which have has made a huge difference) We could shuffle the walls a little bit to make the bathroom and hallway bigger. Piece of mind, you might uncover something hidden under the old plaster that needs fixing. We found a dividing wall that wasn’t tied in and a crack that needed pinning. Getting it out the way while the House was a mess anyway. Cons: Cost, it wasn’t cheap. It took a while, it added around 4 weeks onto our project. It was hard work as we did all the finishing decorating ourselves. The new plaster will need to be mist coated and painted which is around 4-5coats of paint. You’ll need to have new skirting, picture rail and architrave fitted (and this also needs painting). The plaster will crack as it dries out over the first year, so you will need to touch it up. We did this ourselves and it took a weekend. We intend for the property to be our ‘forever’ home and were doing a complete renovation upstairs and downstairs anyway. So for us it was worth while. Let me know if you have any more questions....See Morehelp with kitchen wall
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Comments (0)Hi, I've just received a copy of all my searches and I wanted to get opinion on some of the thing's flagged up on my survey. Would love some advice on if I should be concerned or not on the internally beautiful house I am hoping to complete buying worth £530k within Greater London. 1. The house is affected by Chancel Repair Liability and the present owners have provided Chancel Repair Liability Insurance up to the value of £500k. Is that sufficient and should it cover me for any issues with Chancel Repair Liability in the future? 2. The Groundsure Homebuyers report indicates the property has moderate-high risk of natural ground subsistence. The report goes on to recommend that I should get a level 3 survey done or a structural survey done to ascertain the property is sound. I've already done this and the report came back all positive. Details can be found in this thread (https://www.houzz.co.uk/discussions/6013590/first-time-buyer-horizontal-crack-on-external-wall ). They also recommend to contact the LA to ask for records of the property and local area relating to subsidence. This I haven't done but I am guessing I should? A picture of what they provided is below. Basically 1km and beyond from the house, it is all red. But I am guessing it is like that for most of London. The area the house is in is in fact low subsistence risk zone but the report says "The property, or an area within 50m of the property, has a moderate to high potential for natural ground subsidence. This rating is derived from the British Geological Survey's GeoSure database, and is based upon the natural qualities of the geology at the site rather than any historical subsidence claims or events. Additionally, this data does not take into account whether buildings on site have been designed to withstand any degree of subsidence hazard" Would you be concerned at any of this? The present vendors have been there over 10 years and the Structural Engineer said there was nothing that would prevent him buying the house once he was done surveying it. 3. The Groundsure Homebuyers report also indicates that the nearest overhead transmission lines and/or pylon is located 483m from the property. Overhead power transmission lines are known to emit electromagnetic fields (EMF) and some consider this may cause potential health concerns. My question is, should I be concerned? I never considered this before. The houses around the area do not suffer from selling issues whatsoever so that doesn't bother me. As far as I can tell online, most think there is no good data associated with any potential risks whatsoever. My gut is telling me this is a false flag. The power line is a 275KV pylon line but the house is almost half a KM away. Would you be worried? Should I buy an EMF meter and test if the area has a low value? Can I pay someone to do it and if so who? 4. The planning and building regulation searches have shown that the vendor received approval for internal alterations of the house including ground floor structural openings (through lounge), ground floor WC, first floor bathroom and removal of chimney breasts throughout the house. These works were done in 2015 however the vendor did not get a building regulation completion certificate. The vendor has agreed to pay for indemnity insurance to cover this. I'm guessing this should be OK and should protect us from any issues? 5. Lastly, the private water and drainage searches have revealed that the public sewer map shows a public sewer within the boundary of the property. It runs across the garden. A picture is below. Should I be concerned about this at all? The accompanying notes in the report says "The boundary of the property has been determined by reference to the Ordinance Survey record. The presence of a public sewer running within the boundary of the property may restrict further development; The water board has a statutory right of access to carry out works on its assets, subject to notice. This may result in employees of the water board or its contractors needing to enter the property to carry out work. A section 104 sewer record is not an ‘as constructed’ record. It is recommended that these details be checked with the developer". Does this mean that I would need to front any costs to any work the water board would have to do? Currently the rear garden is paved over. Should they need to rip it up to get access, would they pay for the repairs to my garden too? Also I'm guessing this also means the kitchen cannot be extended? If so, I don't think that would an issue for me as the current kitchen is huge and the garden is tiny anyway and I am unlikely to ever want to extend it. The neighbor on the right has slightly extended their kitchen outwards but not much. Probably up to that line. Would love any and all opinions from you great people. Thanks!...See More
Sonia
3 years agosarh123
3 years ago
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