Dman77

yeah thanks. Its a massive tree house. I'm hoping the nearby building doesn't cause the tree to move ;-)

you guys are braver than me. Keep paying for surveys for until you find the one I want so I don't have to tell the insurance guys? I still know there is a problem with the house. That doesn't change. Anyway, ive walked away 2 months ago and found a house since (fingers crossed on that one). Back to my original point. The law changed in 2013 so Estate agents should have to pass on information to potential buyers that could effect their decision. A surveyor stating in black and white there is clear movement likely caused by close tree would certainly qualify as relevant information. I bet the estate agent doesn't mention of of this.

No the house wouldn't collapse, but this tree sprouted over the last 15 yrs so its likely damage from that. As I say, the insurance would be a problem. I rang and checked with three of them. close trees and cracks are a big no no for them.

also, with regards to bargaining. its all pretty irrelevant when you wont get insurance. 'Dear mr insurance. can we have insurance on a property which the surveyor said has had definate movement and cracks likely due to a 60ft conifer which has its trunk 2 m away from kitchen which is showing the cracks'. Good luck with that.

good question. This is my problem with this.. A surveyor sees a few cracks. goes 'meh', good be old movement. Rewind a week or two. Surveyor sees a few cracks next to a 60ft lelandi. Changes things id have thought. no?

hi Wes. No, the point is, the new people who go to view the house, probably wont know the tree existed.

So the structural surveyor is wrong?

Well hello again guys, Its been a while but I couldn't resist. Thought you might like to hear this. The house we pulled out of remained 'under offer' for over a month until we just noticed (and this must have happened within a weekish) that its back on again as available.... ...and we had already guessed what they'd been up too. The new property profile picture now shows the property with that massive leylandi (and the smaller other three next to it - only about 40ft) completely missing. Yep, all chopped right down. I cant see if its completely gone because the shrubs in the front garden obscure the base, so it may have about 10-15 ft left. Or maybe not. So basically, given the structural surveyors recommendation of reducing the tree slowly over years to reduce/not make worse the movement and cracks/sinkage and me telling this to the Estate agent, this would appear to not have happened. Bit naughty this isn't it? I hope the next buyers have a good structural surveyor and I think there should be a law in place that if a surveyor finds something that 'could prevent you getting insurance' as quoted to me, they should have to disclose this to each other, or somewhere that flags for buyers. I would want to know that a 50-60ft tree 2m from the property I want to buy had just been hacked right down and had likely caused movement/cracks and this dramatic felling could make things worse. What say you guys?

If you were close, nothing would give me more pleasure than taking an axe and smashing that thing to a million pieces and do it free. (My thread should explain the reasoning :-) Good luck with it

Thanks guys. Appreciate your messages. Also very interested to hear about the liability of insurance. I was surpised by what the insurances conpanies said. Still, either way i can see insurance companies dragging their heels over expensive claims. hello rightmove my old friend, ive come to talk with you again, because a house softly subsiding, grew its roots while i was sleeping...." God i hope people get the reference.

You're probably right but it all looks grim and too much of a coincidence that there is a movement next to trees. Plus still not our bloody trees so i cant even do anything. God knows who would buy this now. Cash buyer invester maybe. Or someone gets 'lucky' and a surveyor oks the place.

No i didnt, or wouldnt take anything an estate agent said as fact as correct or accurate which is why we got a full structural off an independent surveyor with all the qualifications. Surprising how two surveyors came out with the complete opposite opinion. Didnt even agree on if the earth was clay or soil. Im not sure on how either knew with out analysis of earth. #doallprofessionalsjustmakecrapup?

No problem. I guess this all adds to the experience pot of the forum. May help someone in the future. Oh and i wasnt aware you cant claim against someone elses insurance for subsidence from their trees. Comes under 'peril' or something. But you can claim off your neighbours if the same tree affects your drains though. Funny that. So collapse somebody elses house with your tree through negligence (stupidity) of placement of tree or failure to tend to tree (lazyness) and you're not even responsible. Astonishing piece of law. Thats straight from two insurance companies.

Hi Everyone, Well an update to the ingoing saga. Had a full structural survey done today and the guy said there is definately movement in the property and cracks near the area of the question with the massive conifers likely to blame. Quoted lots of money to fix and wouldnt get insurance given the obvious movement. So thats the end of that. Dream house down the swanny. Month of two of going through the motions etc and will now have to pull out. Estate agents surveyor 'friend' who had a quick look after we had stated our concerns had originally said there were no problems at all and nothing to worry about. Who'd ya believe eh? Well, hats off to idiots who grows lelandii 2 mtrs away from somebody elses kitchen wall lets them grow to 50ft. You Fxxxxx tools. Excuse my french, im rather upset. Cheers for reading. Dave

Crikey this is all bit scary. -No, I stupidly didn't think to take photos of the ground around. The down pipe I think it just went to a drain. On the inside of the wall about 3 m to the left is the garage which has the sewage pipe running down inside it. The surveyor couldn't find the manhole cover while he was there. I totally agree with being as informed as possible but I guess we still wont know what can happen. Maybe the insurance will make the difference. Its silly to think that no one would buy this house because of this tree. so in a nutshell 1. Get the soil/clay/depth looked at. 2? er..can you find out the depth of foundations.