house purchase and knocked through lounge/ diner issue

[matz]

we are into a purchase for a property where the dividing wall has been taken down between lounge and dining room. House is circa 1910. The work was done years ago before the current owner owned the house and no theres unsurprisingly no record of any kind of permissions or building regs.

I had this a few years ago with a house I was buying and I recall it was flagged up on my survey and I was advised to get a structural surveyor in to check it before purchase which I never did. There was never a problem with it and I sold the property on ok.

Would most people look closely at where the wall was removed and if there were no signs of any issues, leave it and proceed or would you go through the structural survey thing for peace of mind. I'm inclined toward the former.

I know you can get indemnities but these dont compensate for the house falling down which after all is what the greatest fear is. Any planning or building reg issues would be long gone so theres hardly any point doing it for that reason.

So do I go back to the house and take a close look and leave it at that or go further - what do people think

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

If its not fallen down by now it not likely to fall down in the future. It is possible there could be all kinds of cracks and nasties hidden away and its now all been very nicely decorated just before it went on the market but you either go all out and get an invasive structural report done (if the owners let you) or you just take a bit of a chance, there's not really a half way house with this kind of thing. Personally I'd be assessing the whole house, what wok has been done over the years, and does that look like its been bodged?