Cracks in corner of the room radiating from chimney breast - should I be concerned?

[Michael55]

Looking to buy a late victorian (1909-1930ish) in a northern seaside town, and saw a house with these cracks. The far wall in the images is a party wall with a house that is perhaps not well looked after, and the house is on a street just off the main road along the seaside, so possibly a very sandy foundation. The street does appear to suffer from weak foundations with one house about 5 houses down having the lower part of the front bay window sinking inwards into the house. A neighbour assured me this was from road works which still, is not too re-assuring.

There are some cracks on the chimney breast in the corner of the front room. I can't see external cracks (though it's painted) and I can't find other ceiling cracks around the house. These have been there for a few years from a previous listing in 2023. Nor can i tell if when filled, they were heavy-handed and used plenty of filler or if the cracks were sizable. A neighbour tells me there have been subsidence issues down the road and talked about some houses having "cracks" - but blamed this on poor care of the house.

When looking at the images again, I notice there are older filled in cracks at the top that appear to be smaller that seem to have been filled in a lot more subtler.

Should I be concerned about the cracked coving/cornice which travels along the ceiling which seems newer than the other smaller ones?

 

[Gothichome]

Probably not an issue, it’s common for this type of cracking. It’s the chimney mass moving a bit. You will probably find similar cracks at the corners of the doors radiating up the wall into the ceiling.

 

[Michael55]

Probably not an issue, it’s common for this type of cracking. It’s the chimney mass moving a bit. You will probably find similar cracks at the corners of the doors radiating up the wall into the ceiling.

Thanks, but aren't these also the exact signs of subsidence?

 

[Gothichome]

Yes, there will always be slight movement over time. Heat expansion! Cold contraction, moisture in, moisture out. The framing contorting slightly, the chimney mass moving as ground conditions change. You have to look at as a whole system of interconnecting parts. It comes with old homes. It does become an issue if there are major movement over a short time period though. You mention several homes shifting in your area, if the whole area is shifting that’s another issue, you might want to look into it.