Subsidence, settlement and heave
A glass tell-tale is glued across a crack in the lounge wall and nobody has written a date or a reading on it. What movement history is the survey unable to inherit?
The survey cannot inherit a movement history from that tell-tale. A glass tell-tale is glued across a crack in the lounge wall, and nobody has written a date or a reading on it. The glass shows only what it looks like on the day of the inspection: intact, cracked, or loose. Without a date of fixing and a recorded reading, there is no timed series to take over. The report can note that a tell-tale is present. It cannot say how the crack has behaved since the glass was stuck on.
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?
A tell-tale is useful only as a record. The date says when observation started. A reading, or a note that the glass was then intact, says what changed later. This one has neither. An unbroken glass might mean no movement since it was fixed, or it might have been fitted yesterday. A cracked glass might be old news or new. The survey was not given a log, and it did not start one. The history the glass might have held was never written down, so the inspection cannot inherit it.
Ask the seller, through the solicitor, who fitted the tell-tale and whether any dated sheet exists, and treat a missing sheet as no history rather than as a quiet crack. If the crack matters, a structural engineer can set a fresh, dated watch. Do not describe the lounge crack as stable because glass is still glued across it. The survey found a tell-tale with no date and no reading. That is the whole of the record.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Was any date or reading written on the tell-tale or supplied with it?
- What did the glass itself show on the day, and where is it fixed?
- Did you start a monitoring record, or only note the undated glass?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the tell-tale as undated, so it carries no movement history.
- Ask the seller for any log that names who fitted it and when.
- Start a fresh dated watch if the lounge crack must be followed.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the glass is intact, has the crack stopped?
Intact glass without a date does not show that the crack has stopped. The survey cannot tell when the tell-tale was fixed, so it cannot tell how long the glass has survived. No reading was written on it. An intact plate on the day of the visit is not a movement history the report can inherit.
Can the surveyor’s photograph become the first reading?
A photograph can show how the glass looked on that day. It cannot invent the missing start date, and it is not a series. The survey did not inherit earlier readings because none were written on the tell-tale. One picture is a new observation, not the history the glass was supposed to hold.