I can only provide anecdotal experience, but my old girl found her dream house. Old mining cottage type terraced house, immaculate renovation inside, great hillside views, nice enough place overall…

…she instructed her surveyor to have a look and he told her to run like fuck, the shared wall was pretty much the only thing keeping the house upright - his words were clearly a reduction of some larger issues, but that saved a repair and insurance nightmare.

They’re pricey, yes - but they can save you an exponentially larger amount of money.