Hi we are in the process of selling our house, the report has picked up that out bay window is coming away from the house and there may have been 'not fairly recent movement' There is a crack on the out wall. The surveyor is requesting some drilling to check the foundations. It this a common problem? Anyone help with some advice please?
Bay window subsidence - 1930's house
- Thread starter jitty
- Start date
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If the surveyor was instructed by the buyer, then it's not his place to recommend foundation investigation. In any case he should be experienced enough to know what is going on there.
Unfortunately this is a very common thing and can put sellers in a predicament once cracking is mentioned in a report.
It may well be historic and not ongoing. But there is no guarantee for the buyer that it won't get worse. The surveyor won't say this in his report, even if in his experience (and mine) that this type of cracking is very common and not a significant issue.
Unless a buyer is actually going to buy, then I don't think you should spend money on their surveyor's report. Negotiate something.
Otherwise get the crack pointed up, and blended in to make it unobtrusive and seek another buyer.
Unfortunately this is a very common thing and can put sellers in a predicament once cracking is mentioned in a report.
It may well be historic and not ongoing. But there is no guarantee for the buyer that it won't get worse. The surveyor won't say this in his report, even if in his experience (and mine) that this type of cracking is very common and not a significant issue.
Unless a buyer is actually going to buy, then I don't think you should spend money on their surveyor's report. Negotiate something.
Otherwise get the crack pointed up, and blended in to make it unobtrusive and seek another buyer.
Hi thank you for your reply, it was a structural engineer who came. Im just worried about the implications this may cause. Cost of reparing the cracks etc.
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Structural engineers always tend to go OTT with their advice and want everything checked and confirmed.
If it is a problem now, ie the bay has recently started to move and is likely to move more, then it tends to be evident. and then you need to deal with the cause - which could be one of several things.
If the problem is not current, and its an old crack from some normal movement (which is more common) then you just have the crack pointed up as per above. The trick here is to have it done by someone with a clue, who will blend the repair in to make it look like its nothing and not sticking out like a neon sign to any surveyor
You certainly should not need to go to the expense of underpinning foundations or reinforcement to the wall for a trivial crack.
Now if you have a potential buyer, and they have that report, then they have the upper hand to either want you to carry out whatever is recommended, and spend lots of money doing so, or they can ask for a price reduction and take the risk.
So you need to decide to do that, or just put it back on the market and see if another buyer is interested.
Bare in mind that any significant work such as underpinning raises red flags for buyers and insurers and you need to declare it in any sales pack
If it is a problem now, ie the bay has recently started to move and is likely to move more, then it tends to be evident. and then you need to deal with the cause - which could be one of several things.
If the problem is not current, and its an old crack from some normal movement (which is more common) then you just have the crack pointed up as per above. The trick here is to have it done by someone with a clue, who will blend the repair in to make it look like its nothing and not sticking out like a neon sign to any surveyor
You certainly should not need to go to the expense of underpinning foundations or reinforcement to the wall for a trivial crack.
Now if you have a potential buyer, and they have that report, then they have the upper hand to either want you to carry out whatever is recommended, and spend lots of money doing so, or they can ask for a price reduction and take the risk.
So you need to decide to do that, or just put it back on the market and see if another buyer is interested.
Bare in mind that any significant work such as underpinning raises red flags for buyers and insurers and you need to declare it in any sales pack
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