DanBB

Thank for your advice. It is very helpful to hear from people who had experience with these kind of issues. We are looking at the remedial work to be done now ( just finalizing the purchase ) any idea how much these kind of repairs cost. ie: crack to be repaired with helifix bars *3, the garage need to be tied in to the main structure, the boundary wall taken down and rebuilt, and the trees cut down. I asked for some quotes from builders but they are taking their time. Plus another question, we were told that further monitoring will be needed, is there any special guarantees I should ask from the builders, how does this work. The structural engineer thinks that once the trees are cut down most problems would solve itself, however would you start fixing cracks/walls etc straight after cutting the trees down or would you wait for the ground to settle. Just wanted to say a massive thank you for all your responses, as they helped us a lot.

Hi. Thanks for all the advice. We had the arborist report and the structural engineer report. There are a few issues with the house. Firstly it is on highly shrinkable soil. There are cracks under all upstairs windows, the garage which was built at a later and not tied in is separating and there is a boundary wall with serious movement. At the moment the surveyor thinks if all this is fixed the house should be ok to buy however after all the advice I got here I am not so sure, so any advice would be very much appreciated. I attached the arborist report, and a few picks of the movement/cracks. Thanks.

Thanks for the answers This photo is an aerial photo of the trees from google earth which were taken down in the front garden at the house we were planning to buy. We don't have any better pic but on the top left corner there is a lelandili. The other trees are around 7-8m high , so our guess is that these trees were similar height. Any help??

Can anyone identify these trees?

Hi, I need some advice. We are about to buy a house, but unfortunately our survey came back with Subsidence because of the big trees in front as well as behind the house. There are at least 10-15 Conifer, Fir trees in the close proximity of the property. The distance varies between 3-4 to 10 meters away in a horseshoe shape in front of the property and few on the back. We had a look on google earth, and accidentally came across the aerial photos of the garden, and there were two more massive trees in the front garden, which were previously cut down . Now I feel the owners are hiding something and we are buying a problem !! There are already cracking walls under all front windows. We are just waiting for the Structural engineer and the Arborists report. We love the house but I am worried about future problems not just because of the trees but expensive insurance etc. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.