1/4
Viewed this property today and we really love the bones of it, could make a lovely home. Has these big old cracks and ceiling missing in areas. What’s peoples experiences with these kind of repairs? Ballpark costs?
Structural wallpaper
Peel that off and the whole wall is coming down lol
Worth paying out to fix for the right house? Or could cost the same as the house? 🤣
If it's as bad as it looks on the surface, then the answer is how long is a piece of string. Could be 5k, could be 50k+. You'd only find out after a structural specialist thoroughly inspected it.
One thing I assure you is remedial work will be very disruptive and time consuming.
And we won’t really get the real answer unless we fully buy. Maybe we’ll see if a structural engineer can come back with us for a 2nd viewing for a bit of money.
The structural damage worries me more with the fact it's a terrace and you have other people to deal with, not just this house.
I would, as someone who's had to pay thousands I'm repairs for cracking that looked WAY better than that, better safe than sorry.
Pay a SE to pose as your brother then after he can let you know how fucked that is 😂
Edit that looks like a wall between the kitchen and the back door that runs through the house (possibly a gap at some point to walk between the two) which means the would be a lintel or smal rsj this would make it most definitely a load bearing wall, did you look to see if the outside the door lookpulled away from or sunken to the concrete
You certainly don't have to buy it to get answers.
You'll obviously get a survey, and the surveyor will obviously point this out. They'll likely say you'll need a structural engineers report.
You're looking at 5/600 each for these reports.
I'm surprised this house isn't up for auction tbh
I’d just avoid this kind of trouble. Also the ceiling could be asbestos and it’s cracking. Not really safe
Why are people here so dramatic about asbestos? It’s in almost every older house and looking at the rest of it, asbestos is the least of his worries.
Run far, run fast!
What would be the cost of the house?
Up for 80k currently. 3 bed terraced.
Worth less than the rebuild cost.
Wow. Mid terrace here in Devon is 2-3 times that. 80k is a cheap plot
Vast swathes of the north (& possibly the country) have houses that sell for less than the insured full rebuild cost.
Can confirm, I live in such a house.
same
Important question - where are you?
Around here 80k wouldn't get you half a one bed flat.
£80k gets you three parking spaces here
West Yorkshire! Moved from the South, it’s piss poor down there for the housing market
Welcome to the North ✊
At that price, is it mortgageable or cash buyers only? Those cracks are serious, and if it's a terrace I'd be worried about the state of the attached properties as well. If it seems like a bargain, it's not.
I paid 80k for my 2 bed terraced house a year ago, in far better condition, only needing new paint. I'd shop around if I were you.
Out of interest how much is a similar property that doesn’t have structural issues?
On this street, other houses have gone for £120k without these issues in the last 3 years
Oh wow, that’s not even vaguely enough of a discount. Sorting the structural issues could easily cost £40k and that’s before getting it up to a nice standard with a new kitchen, bathroom etc.
This is the kind of property that goes to auction and sells for £50k to a builder
If a done up value house has sold for 120k I wouldn't be offering more than around 50k for this
Depends on the value and asking price
Could run 10’s of thousand or could be a few thousand . Bit of a risk
I love how it gets progressively worse.
- Bit of a patch job, possibly radiator got ripped off, no biggie.
- Possibly old lath and plaster has failed, or boards have shifted, meh
- Ok, bit more movement. failed lintel....
- That's a no from me dawg
To be fair, re 4, if you wanted to recreate The Crooked House in Himley, you're about halfway there!
Getting lending and insurance will be a nightmare.
The house isn't worth it walk away. It will likely end up being auctioned due to what look to be serious structural issues which could cost a fortune to fix.
I tried to get a mortgage on s house that had cracks, nothing like those photos, but the lender valued it at £0 so i couldn't get a mortgage.
Looking back at it was a blessing.
If you have to ask then i'd say you aren't qualified to take on a house with cracks like this. Assuming you can even get someone to lend on this property.
We wouldn’t be doing these works ourselves at all. Everyone starts somewhere :)
Everyone starts somewhere, but personally, I wouldn't start there.
Pics 3 and 4 are basically confirming some structural failing in that property that will be expensive to fix.
Assuming youve measured the square footage, taken a look at resale prices for the same/ similar properties in the area and then worked out your renovation costs per sqft/ metre - you need to then work out what would be left to fix that in the worst case scenario.
I wouldnt be touching that unless it was a side reno that I could afford to have on the back burner for a while, while doing other houses. Its likely that literally no other work could be doing while getting that rectified, and thats after youve found someone to do it.
OP won't get much change from £100,000 for underpinning even a modest sized house. They'll also find that mortgage companies will refuse to lend against it until the work has been done. Definitely a do not buy from me!
I think you will find it super difficult to get a mortgage. When you apply for a mortgage the surveyor is actually working for the lender. The lender wants to be pretty sure that If you default on the mortgage and they kick you out that they can put the house on the market and recoup the amount of money that they have lent you.
They tend to not want to lend on something that is in very poor condition. I borrowed on a repossession house and the Halifax was very reluctant to go for it until I raised my deposit to over 25 percent.
They were mithering me to get a report on the condition of electrics and gas boiler even though I said I was replacing them. They suddenly stopped having all these issues when I raised to over 25%. It was shabby but nowhere near as problematic looking as this one.
Honestly - forget about this house. A first time buyer shouldn't go near it, I'm a building surveyor and can do loads of my own labour and I wouldn't buy a modest terrace house in that condition for £30k never mind £80k. Trades cost more than you think. Even the cheapest most hopeless clueless builders are a couple of hundred quid a day these days in Yorkshire and Lancashire etc.
Lender’s surveyors do drive by valuations all the time, most of the time they don’t even go inside the house. I’ve gone through 2 house purchases and both times it was a drive-by surveyor. I probably was over 25% both times though
I'm not sure why everyone is downvoting you to hell. Not cool.
You could be looking at subsidance, cracks in the foundation. Any number of defects.
You would need a survey to get an idea of issues which will probably set you back about a grand.
Remediation work will be eyewatering. You could be looking at underpinning, rebuilding an external wall, or flat out demolishing and rebuilding the property.
No lender in their right mind will lend against this property. You'll have to be a cash buyer. You'll probably then need to have up to another £200,000 or more to get the property right again.
Thank you for the genuine response. It seems like it’s overvalued for what it is, the work & the possible resell value. As lovely a home it COULD be with all that work, not for us sadly!
If it's not 100k less than the house next door then walk away
We are on our second house, both this and our first are typical Victorian houses that needed some work - nowhere near as yours, but stuff like fixing windows, fixing leaky roof etc. It is so so much more work than you think even for that 'light' stuff. This might be dependent on the area, but even just getting hold of trades to come give us quote is a struggle - let alone actually getting a quote and booking the job. Everything is more expensive than you think, there's often unexpected stuff that goes wrong and makes the initial quote go up significantly.
To put it in context, this is as if you'd never done any running before and signed up to do an Iron Man to 'start from somewhere'. Sure, you can try, but I feel like the chances of seriously regretting it are incredibly high.
Hello mate.
I, like you, think it would be a lovely house too :)
You can just buy this stuff from bnq called pollyfilla, if u put that in the cracks then paint over nobody will know it was even there :)
Enioy the new purchase buddy :)
🤣 had we of gone for it, it would’ve been knowing it was a big job. Don’t ask, don’t know. We’ve put this house in the “no” pile lmao
100% you will want to get a structural engineer to look at it.
Without a doubt will be!
I don't know how much they could tell you without destructive exploration
I wouldn’t waste your money, you will pay for a structural engineer and he will just tell you not to buy it. Save yourself the money and don’t buy it.
Looks like the front is about to fall off…
I’d run for the hills
That’s not very typical, I’d like to make that point.
Pics 3 and 4 are the solid "run away" money shots.
Leave it - it'll go to auction and (if you really, really, really like it that much) buy it for half the price it's probably listed for.
Whatever you do, get a structural engineer to confirm what works will actually be needed (and get some costs).
Then, depending on the outcome you'll have to see if you can get it mortgaged by anyone, assuming you need the finance for it.
Leave it - it'll go to auction and (if you really, really, really like it that much) buy it for half the price it's probably listed for.
Not if he's buying with a mortgage. He'd be throwing the 10% deposit away.
If it was a high end area with around £1m valuation then might be worth fixing. It'll cost too much if it's a low cost area.
Judging purely from the fences and gardens looks like a low cost area
Something is seriously wrong. For cracks to be inside and outside the wall going diagonally. If you still like the property get a structural engineer in might take a few phone calls as you want a full house survey not just these cracks.
I bought a house with a huge crack and in turns out it was movement cracks from 60 years ago and never properly fixed. But it was nothing like this.
It's 80k for a reason. You could easily spend another £50k doing it up. Do you have any DIY knowledge at all? If not could be another £40k on labour costs etc.
Personally i would run and not look back
Yeh , no bud. Those cracks aren’t something a builder fixes. It’s some major structural support somewhere has failed. Fixing that and being aware of neighbour properties is going to be insane. Unless this house is for sale for less than the plot value only, I’d run.
Thanks everyone! Appreciate the feedback :)
There is a significant failure somewhere and I would assume foundations and ground conditions. Get a good survey if your going to proceed. Are you paying cash? It maybe a problem getting finance on the property?
If I took this on - and by some miracle got a mortgage based on the pictures you’ve added - I wouldn’t ever be able to sleep. I would constantly worry about those cracks. It took me nearly a year to stop worrying about the hairline plaster cracks we have.
Don't buy it unless you're ready to hit the ground running on the renovation. If you let that sit, it will cause you depression.
Get a structural engineer to have a look. They might need to do an invasive survey so you will need consent from the current owner.
Next take the report, share it with some reputable subsidence specialist and get a few quotes for underpinning/subsidence repair. Then offer on the house accordingly.
Let the thought go. Not unless you have funds to burn. It’s the gamble of what’s behind and I’m with spooky on his comment.
Youll probably need to factor in Asbestos removal. That ceiling looks like Artex and given how old the place looks....
Not sure but you may well have trouble insuring a property that has such clear structural damage. May be able to look into indemnity insurance to cover previous bad damage like that? Yea, scary prospect, those are quite bad cracks, and given it's torn wallpaper are not from like 20 years ago, likely more recent.
honest the above answers are so true .. don’t look good tbh
Christ no, pictures 3 and 4 showing something very wrong.
You don't know enough, and these reddit comments won't be able to tell you enough. That's the bottom line.
The ONLY correct answer here is that if you're going to make one of the biggest commitments you can make in your life to a property with red flags like this, you MUST get a professional to look at it. I think even beyond a full survey, get a structural engineer to inspect this too. Throw every kind of reassurance you can buy at it. You might find it's harmless, but (to my very untrained eye) these look like some issues.
Is it barnacles on the second photo?
The dude in pic 2 seems nonplussed by it all, if that's any consolation
Fuck no, wouldn't touch this with my own money, and I'm a tradey with tradey friends
Walk far away before it falls down on you
That house appears to be falling down.
Is that a feature you want?
Definitely not going for the house now, thanks everyone! Learnt a thing or two :)
It's not built on Khazad-dûm is it? May find a balrog under your foundations.
1 doesn’t look like anything concerning to me. 2 also looks cosmetic from the inside but I suspect escape/ingress of water - needs consideration. 3&4 look worrying enough to my eye to get a structural engineer in to have a look.
No fault is ever significant enough to “walk away”… it just alters the price.
Its got structural movement, so most lenders wont lend against it, same with insurance no high street insurer will do it youll have to use a specialist. These reasons make it really hard to sell on, even if you fix the movement you have to declare its had movement in the past to mortgage and insurance i think forever
Knock it down and start again. Hopefully a good plot and area!
Nothing a bit of filler won’t fix. Just keep applying generously every 2-3 weeks until you sell. Might be worth getting a selco membership. You and your partner should also probably wear helmets indoors at all times.
Wouldn't go anywhere near it
It's fucked.
check if those cracks appear on the exterior
There’s a few, I’ve attached pics of the outside. They are only in the back
It's bad, the pattern of cracking suggests movement. I bet the bricks underneath are cracked to hell. The inside cracks are large and indicate structural stress. If you want the place don't be surprised if it's needs underpinning and walls rebuilding.
That render looks like it’s hiding a lot.
I’ve moved into a place with cracks in the plaster, but that’d scare me off.
Renders no.1 job seems to be hiding problems!
I'd be curious to see if the big window in the photo has a propper lintel under the render. You see some interesting DIY jobs in old terraces and, looking at the pattern of cracks, it wouldn't surprise me if it was undersized or missing entirely.
I don’t think anyone’s properly touched it for a long time. Been in the same family since 1954 & seems death has left it empty, rotted and now sold. We’ve stepped away from it !
Doubt you could secure a mortgage against that. I would avoid as it looks like subsidence.
Is that Japanese knotweed at the bottom of the garden?
That last picture is of serious concern. You don't have to get a full survey, you can book a structural engineer to go and look at specific things, which is what I'd do here and it's a shit load cheaper.
Thoughts:
Aaaaaaarrrrghh!!!
Most likely subsidence. Will cost a lot to underpin the house foundations.
Cast are the band to answer this one for you:
No Pic 1 easy to repair Pic 2 you’ll need to take ceiling down, looked like the owners have plaster boarded over the top. Pic 3 big problem structural damage £££££££££££ Walk away
Do you like Crack ? !
I wouldn't. Looks like structural damage.
Don’t
Pics 3 and 4 look like structural cracks so I’d tread carefully and get a good survey done.
I had to put some music on while I scrolled the pics.
Artex ceilings as well, you will need to test them for asbestos before you start renovating
Don’t do it! (Unless it’s a fantastic plot, and you have the time/money/skills to knock it down and rebuild)
What’s the garden like?
The bones of it? They look all broken I think you must have been looking at something else.
Ballpark 10K to do some minor underpinning
So unless that's vastly cheaper than next door's house value then maybe worth asking for a price reduction.
Problem is you'd be up against urban shysters who will patch it up to flip in 4 months, against you wanting to renovate it properly
Why? Is it cheap?
80k, so yeah!
Where is it? May I ask?
RUN!!!!
This isn’t a ‘repair’ as such. Looks like huge structural movement. Could also mean the roof is under great stress. Could also mean there’s a large tree nearby that’s caused it, or a large tree has been removed and caused it.
It also looks like an old house, no cavity, and therefore lime plaster and render is required to put it back to its normal breathable state. It looks like where the ceiling has come down, that there was cementitious plaster over the top of lime… which can trap moisture.
Lime is a traditional skill, and more expensive than new methods.
There is 2 huge conifers in the backgarden, not right by the house but maybe 12/15ft away.
That’ll be the issue. The roots of conifers spread about as far as they are tall. Problem is, if they’re removed, then it can cause even more problems when the roots die off. I’d avoid like the plague tbh.
underpinning costs a fortune
You’re a braver person than I am
Bit of caulk will sort that no problem… /s . On serious note I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole
I personally would not enter this house. 🚩🚩🚩
A fixer upper for sure. Just get good advice from someone who knows the score and not on some random Reddit post.
For sure, I’m an over asker so I’ve asked friends, family and the internet 🤣
Who ever buys this may decide that a re-build would be the best way to go. Then it depends on the site value against the price.
It’s terraced!
Not a chance
Can you post some outside pictures... Like what is the source of the subsidence? Trees, drainage, building itself? Also your neighbours, same build issues?
I think the bones of that house are broken.
If it’s in West Yorkshire you’re likely to find another house with similar “bones” as all the houses around here are pretty much cookie cutters of each other.
Agreed, it just had a really beautiful home feel. Can’t explain more than that! We’ve found a good few, this was just the first we had a really nice feel about. But buying a house is more than feels!
Looks like pre fab which means you probably cannot get a mortgage on it?
Old mining village so I would imagine so!
Pay the money and get a structural survey. Anyone telling you it's structural from just a photo hasn't got a clue.
Run Forest RUN
Enough issues to make persimmon homes jealous.
Run for the hills... Especially those last 2 pictures, evidently structural issues with the property and or subsidence. Id bet good money that wallpaper is also hiding a lot more cracks too.
Get ya sledgehammer out
Image 1: that's not so bad, I could do a half-decent DIY job on that myself
Images 2-4: Jesus Christ, no thanks
I thought this was a troll post, but apparently not!
There was an upstairs flat with cracks like that two doors down from me (in a terrace). Builders bought it sight unseen, pushed the wall, and it came down. Thankfully they’d put scaffolding up first so it didn’t damage anyone or anything!
I used to use the shop space below the flat, and the cracks were obvious on the outside as well. It was a constant worry.
Don’t.
I don’t know where you are from or what your currency is, but here in southern Europe I’ll have you drop at minimum 10k€ to fix it, even more if the damage is as bad as it looks.
To be honest, unless you have the money and a lot of time to wait for it to be ready, stay as far away from this house as possible
Needs a bit of filler.
It wouldn't put me off.
Our house was pretty bad when we bought it, plaster falling off the ceiling in the living room where there was a leak above in the bathroom, bathroom needing a complete tear down, kitchen needing a complete teardown and a room or two to be plastered.
And this is only the things we saw, we have uncovered a lot more and ended up plastering every single surface in the house, new window sills, new flooring, new doors, new radiators, new boiler (but only because we were moving it and it made sense to also replace it at the same time), brand new full kitchen, new skirting boards.
This house is already in a bad enough state and it will take you mega money and mega time to get it back to a habitable standard.
We have been doing ours since last March and will move in within the next 2 months, it has been a lot to do but thankfully my dad did 97% of the work (and "borrowed" quite a few materials from work such as plaster, metal corners, fillers, silicones, caulks etc) and this saved us a tonne of money but even with us not paying for labour we will end up with roughly £20-£25k spent (without any furniture) and 16 (approx) months of work.
Unless you have somewhere to live, willing to do it yourself, have £50k+ spare and willing to spend a few years on this, or have £150k to pay someone to do it I would definitely walk away.
Money pit! You may end up spending £50,000 on it and it MAY solve the problems or it MAY constantly need further fixing. Never get a mortgage either.
It'll buff out ...
If you are buying cash it could be a good purchase as you will be able to offer way below because they're not getting any other realistic offers.... No one is getting a mortgage on this house. Just budgeting for underpinning, Helix rods and possibly rebuilding a wall. Oh and the roof + full refurb costs but you were going to do that anyway right?
Do you know what might be the possible cause?
Plaster repairs and maybe a bit of damp is one thing but those cracks scream that the external wall is travelling downwards and the rest of the house isn’t. Fuck that.
You love the bones, but I’m afraid the bones are fucked. Swerve it.
It's a buyers market, houses aren't moving so find something iver your budget and try some sneaky offers. Knocked 60k off of mine. Estate agents are all scum trying to inflat the prices, ultimately it is the seller who has to decide if they're happy to exchange at the price you offer.
OP it fucking sucks being a buyer and having to accept properties with problems because you can’t afford the ones that aren’t dodgy. But this one is too dodgy to go near. There are plenty of other flawed properties out there, you shouldn’t take this one.
I don’t see any structural cracks people are talking about, just blown plaster, peeling wall paper and some brickwork with no visible cracks going through bricks. What am I missing. (Sarcasm)
One question
why?
Lol
Oof looks like a disaster zone. They're structural cracks.