How to sell a property with structural issues

Structural problems don't make a house unsellable. They make it unmortgageable to some buyers — and that's a very different, much more manageable problem. This guide covers what surveyors and lenders actually react to, what you're legally required to disclose, and the three realistic routes to a sale.

What counts as a "structural issue"

The ones that most often stop a mortgage:

• Subsidence, heave or settlement — usually spotted as diagonal cracks wider than 3mm, doors and windows sticking, or cracks that widen upwards
• Failed or missing wall ties, bulging brickwork, bowing walls
• Roof spread, sagging ridge lines, failed purlins
• Structural timber decay — dry rot, wet rot, woodworm in load-bearing timber
• Rising or penetrating damp at a level that affects the fabric
• Spray foam loft insulation — not structural at all, but many lenders now refuse to lend where it's present
• Non-standard construction — RAAC, Mundic block, prefabricated reinforced concrete
• Japanese knotweed close to the building
• Unauthorised or undocumented alterations — removed load-bearing walls, loft conversions or extensions with no building regulations sign-off

Step 1 — Find out what you're actually dealing with

Don't guess, and don't rely on a free "survey" from a damp-proofing or underpinning company that also sells the cure. Get an independent report:

• A full building survey for a general picture
• A structural engineer's report for cracks, movement or bowing — this is the document lenders and buyers take seriously
• An independent damp and timber survey from someone not selling remedial work

A clear engineer's report saying "historic, non-progressive movement, no remedial work required" can add more to your sale price than any amount of decorating. Usually £400–£900 well spent.

Step 2 — Check your insurance history

If there's ever been a subsidence claim on the property, get the claim file and the completion certificate for any repairs. A buyer's lender will want to know:

• what was done, and who did it
• whether there's a guarantee, and whether it transfers
• whether insurance cover has been continuous

A property with documented, completed underpinning and continuing cover sells far more easily than one with an unexplained crack.

Step 3 — Know what you must disclose

In England and Wales you complete a TA6 Property Information Form. You must answer honestly about known defects, disputes, insurance claims, alterations and building regulations. Deliberately concealing a known structural problem is misrepresentation, and buyers can claim damages after completion.

Practically: disclose early, in writing, with your engineer's report attached. Problems disclosed at the start get negotiated. Problems discovered at survey stage collapse sales.

Step 4 — Decide whether to fix or sell as-is

Fix first if the work is well-defined and modest relative to value (a new roof, a section of repointing, tanking one wall), you have the cash, and you can get certificates. Buyers pay a premium for "done and guaranteed".

Sell as-is if the cost is uncertain, the work is major (underpinning, full re-roof, RAAC remediation), you can't fund it, or you need to move on a timescale. Partially finished remedial work is the worst position of all — it prices like a wreck and costs like a project.

Rule of thumb: buyers discount a known, quantified problem by roughly the cost of fixing it plus a risk margin. They discount an unknown problem by whatever number lets them sleep at night — which is always more.

Step 5 — Pick the right route

Estate agent, open market. Works if the issue is mortgageable with a retention — minor damp, a small crack with a clean engineer's report. Expect a longer marketing period and at least one survey-stage renegotiation. Price accordingly from day one.

Auction. Genuinely well suited to structural cases: the legal pack front-loads disclosure, buyers are usually cash or specialist, and there's a fixed completion date. Costs fees, and the outcome is uncertain until the hammer falls.

Cash / direct buyer. No lender, so mortgageability stops mattering. The offer will sit below market to reflect the risk, but you get certainty, no viewings, no renegotiation, and completion in weeks. Usually the right answer for subsidence, RAAC, spray foam and anything with an open-ended repair bill.

Paperwork to have ready

• Structural engineer's report
• Damp and timber report
• Insurance history and any subsidence claim documents
• Guarantees for previous remedial work, and transfer forms
• Building regulations completion certificates and planning permissions
• Any repair quotes you've obtained — even if you're not doing the work, they help buyers price the risk

Common mistakes

• Painting over cracks. Surveyors spot fresh filler immediately and assume the worst.
• Accepting an underpinning quote from the company that diagnosed the movement.
• Marketing at full price "to see what happens", then dropping after three failed surveys — the property gets a reputation.
• Not telling your agent. They can't sell what they don't understand.

How we can help

We buy properties with structural problems regularly — subsidence, failed roofs, spray foam, non-standard construction, unfinished building work. No mortgage, so no lender to spook, and we don't renegotiate after survey because we've already priced the risk.

We'll also happily read your engineer's report and tell you honestly if the issue is smaller than you fear and you'd do better on the open market. That happens more often than you'd think. Get in touch and we'll talk it through, free.