I am currently in the middle of a typically stressful attempt to move house and although I realise this is sort of a 'how long is a piece of string?' question, I would still appreciate any advice.
The survey for the Victorian property I offered on noted that the surveyor believed the (I think solid) internal walls on the first floor had been moved and although there were no obvious signs of failure, recommended that a structural engineer investigated it.
So far as I know, any moving of walls was done more than 7 years ago, at least. Bearing in mind that costs for an additional structural investigation seem to be quite high (and disruptive), does anybody out there with a better knowledge of houses think it's necessary to do or is the surveyor likely to be being over-cautious? Would serious structural problems have shown up by now if there were any? The survey endorsed the asking price, by the way. Thanks.

Bertie, there's no point in having a survey if you take no notice of it just cos you're in love with the property. What sort of survey was it by the way?

Just because there is no visual sign of structural failure does not mean there is not a problem.

Is there a 2nd floor? Is the roof supported by an A frame, which in turn bears load on (what were) the internal walls? Why were upstairs walls removed? To make 2 bedrooms into 1?

Hacking about period houses with no regard to building regs or planning is a nationl disease and should be clamped down upon severely in my view.

When I get a moment I will post an update on my current nightmare. Mine is a large Edwardian mid terrace moved into 5 weeks ago and we have had to have the entire rear upstairs floor/downstairs ceilings removed. It's been 9 days since we had a bathroom, heating, cooker, washing machine (or kitchen of any kind) and the bank balance is groaning (local restaurants doing well out of it though). This problem originates with the removal of a wall that was not even structural and compounded by other bodged removals over the years (and was barely mentioned in my survey).

Beware. A structural engineer's report will be far cheaper than the hell I'm currently going through. Don't even think about going ahead without.

Concur with TrevGo comments above.

Having said that a lot of Victorian upper floor walls were just stud lathe and plaster so it may not be as bad as you think.
The key to this is a look into the Loft area and see what, if anything, has been strengthend or re-joist to support roof trusses etc.
Why don't these Surveyor's ever commit to an opinion?
Presumably you are paying for a Survey and not a BS valuation?
Either way caution at this stage of the proceedings is required.
Mel.

When we had a homebuyers survey in London at around £500+vat , it would only have been £750+ vat for the building survey.(which specifies detailed assessment of the condition/construction of property, materials, uses and defects and technical advice on problems and rememdial works according to the blurb Im reading here) I wonder given that the same firm often does both types of survey, whether if it turned out one needs further examination done on just one aspect, one could then pay the difference for just the further work. The building survey covers all the homebuyers survey stuff , so loads would be just duplicated if he started from scratch. Just a thought. Anyway,even if you approach a different company surely if a whole building survey can be done for £750 +vat, then advice on one thing would be relatively affordable , and like the others say, better than possible vast costs later. Good luck anyway

I would say you should definitely get somebody in to check things before you plunge in head first. I was determined to buy the house that we are now just a week away from moving into, but we had an engineer in to check the areas of concern before goin ahead with the sale. A the end of the day, would you rather pay £500 for peace of mind, or lose thousands of pounds buying a house with loads of structural problems?

Thanks for all advice, which is totally sensible, I know. I'd just reached the point where the whole process has been dragging on for so long that cutting corners and crossing your fingers starts to almost seem like a splendid idea, despite it being just the sort of fat-headed behaviour that gets you shouting at the TV watching 'Property Ladder' or 'Housetrapped in the Sun'. Anyway, a structural engineer is going to look at the house tomorrow so I'll just have to hope that the assessment isn't too catastrophic. Thanks again, and I hope your situation resolves itself, TrevGo.

I am glad to hear it. moving of walls can be potentially catastrophic, so a structural survey to check all is ok is a small price to pay to avoid the risk of buying a house that may have to be knocked down if it turns out to be structurally unsound due to a bodged wall jobbie.

Here's hoping it was a simple non-supporting wall.

Ary.

You really just need an engineer to confirm whetehr it was loadbearing walls that were moved (eek!) or simply 'stud' walls.