Survey finding
Lintel failure flagged in your survey: what to do
Lintel failure is one of the more visible structural items on a survey. This page explains what surveyors mean, the typical UK costs, and how to handle the negotiation.
Last updated: .
Finding
Lintel failure
What this usually means
Lintels span openings above windows and doors, carrying the load of the wall above. Failure shows as stepped or vertical cracking above the opening, a sagging brick course, or a visibly displaced lintel. Steel lintels can corrode and expand; concrete and timber lintels can crack or rot.
Why it matters
An actively failed lintel is a structural defect, not cosmetic. Left unaddressed it can drop bricks or fail catastrophically. Lenders will often want evidence of remediation or a structural engineer's sign-off before drawdown.
Ask your surveyor
- Check:Is the cracking limited to the lintel and surrounding masonry, or is there evidence of wider structural movement?
- Check:Can you see the lintel material and its condition, and is corrosion (steel) or decay (timber) the likely cause?
Ask the seller
- Check:How long has the cracking been present and has any work been done?
- Check:Do you have any historic structural reports or insurance claims for the property?
Next steps
- •Get two written quotes from local trades before negotiating with the seller.
- •Speak to your mortgage broker before exchanging if the finding affects mortgageability.
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What you need to know
Severity
Significant. Specialist follow-up usually warranted before exchange.
Typical cost to fix
Replacement of a single lintel typically £600-£1,500 including making good; multiple lintels or where façade brickwork must be rebuilt £2,000-£5,000+. Catnic or pre-cast concrete lintels are the standard replacement.
Mortgage impact
Most lenders will lend with a retention pending repair, or require a structural engineer's report confirming the rest of the structure is sound. A few will refuse without remediation completed.
Insurance impact
Insurers will usually cover the property once repair is documented; uncertainty arises if movement is found beyond the lintel itself.
When to pull out
Pull out only if multiple lintels have failed alongside wider structural movement and the seller refuses to address it. A single lintel is usually a renegotiation, not a deal-breaker.
When to renegotiate, and by how much
Ask for the cost of replacement plus 15% buffer, deducted from the price or completed by the seller before completion.
Thinking of pulling out or renegotiating? What to do after a bad survey
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Check the property before you offer
Free preview: flood risk, EPC rating, crime, tenure and air quality. The £9.99 report adds the remaining 17 checks, 22 in all, drawing on up to 15 public datasets.
Run a free previewRead next
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How MyPropertyScan produces this guide, and what it is not
Published by MyPropertyScan and written by Ziad Nasr, who is accountable for its accuracy. No page here is written or reviewed by a chartered surveyor, conveyancer or regulated adviser, and we do not claim otherwise.
This page is not:
- Chartered surveying: we do not inspect properties or produce RICS Home Survey reports
- Legal advice: we do not act as conveyancers or advise on title, tenure or contracts
- Mortgage or insurance advice: we are not regulated by the FCA and give no recommendations
Figures and process steps come from the published UK datasets and standards listed on this page, not from professional practice. Pages are updated when source coverage, survey cost assumptions, or lender and legal requirements materially change. Dataset limitations are set out on the methodology page.
Spotted something out of date or wrong? Email [email protected] and we will correct it and change the update date.
Sources used
We use UK public and specialist sources where they are available. Public datasets can be incomplete, delayed, or missing for some addresses. Treat them as a starting point, not as a replacement for professional advice.
Source standard: preference goes to official government datasets, statutory bodies, professional standards, and primary dataset publishers. We cite the source family on the page and explain coverage limits rather than filling gaps with unsupported estimates.
- Professional standard: RICS Home Survey StandardRICS standard for condition-based residential surveys in the UK.
- Learn more from: RICS consumer guide to surveysConsumer-facing guide to survey types and when each level is appropriate.
- Official guidance: GOV.UK buying or selling your homeGovernment overview of the home buying and selling process.