Subsidence, settlement and heave
A door binds at the head rather than at the latch. Why is that not yet proof the lintel has dropped?
Binding at the head is not yet proof the lintel has dropped. A door that catches at the head rather than at the latch can be the door, the frame or the lining, not the beam above. Binding at the latch often means the leaf has dropped on its hinges. Binding at the head can mean swelling, a tight frame or a slightly racked opening. A dropped lintel would need a pattern in the masonry as well, not one tight spot. The survey noted where the door binds. It has not proved the lintel has moved.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Lintels carry the wall over an opening. If one drops, you usually see tapered cracks in the masonry and a distorted frame. A door is a piece of joinery that moves with paint, moisture and worn hinges. Those causes mark the head or the latch without the brickwork having shifted. The survey can say where the door touches. It did not cut out the lintel, did not monitor the opening and did not measure a fall in the beam. One binding point is too little to name that mechanism.
Ask a joiner to ease and rehang the door before anyone assumes the wall has moved, and tell the solicitor the lintel has not been proved dropped. If cracks in the masonry over the opening are also in the report, that is a separate structural question for a surveyor or engineer. This binding note alone is not that referral written as a conclusion. Do not tell a lender the lintel has failed. Say the door binds at the head and the cause of that rub is unproved.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Is binding at the head proof the lintel has dropped?
- Can swelling or the hinges explain a rub at the head?
- Was the lintel exposed or monitored?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the binding as a door note, not as a proved dropped lintel.
- Ask a joiner to check the leaf and the frame first.
- Do not tell a lender the lintel has failed from this rub alone.
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Also asked about this
What would binding at the latch have suggested instead?
Binding at the latch often suggests the door leaf has dropped on its hinges, so the closing edge drops and catches. That is a joinery problem, different from a rub at the head. Even the latch pattern would not, by itself, prove a lintel movement. The survey recorded the head, not the latch. Neither pattern was used to claim the beam has dropped.
Were masonry cracks over the door recorded as lintel movement?
Only if the report says so as a separate note. The binding at the head is not that record. Cracks, if they exist, need their own description, and even then a single visit may not prove ongoing drop. The survey has not exposed the lintel. Do not borrow the door rub as if it were a crack log. The lintel question stays unproved.