Buying a house with Damp..... rethinking the offer....

KHORLOR

Hi!!

This is my first post, and the first time I'm buying a place of my own! So please bare with me!

I've seen the flat I want, it was on at £109,500, I offered £100,000, but they accepted £103,000.
The people selling the flat have inherited and don't know much about the building, so the process has been slow, and in the time it's taken so far it's come to the attention of 2 suveyors - one specialist in damp to notice rising damp, which is quite bad and evident in every room on the interior of the exterior walls. The quote I've had is £2160 plus V.A.T. which means £2500!! This is obvioulsy a huge cost I hadn't thought of, plus there's the plastering and re-decoration.

I've told the estate agents that I want to rethink my offer, but obvioulsy my solicitors suggest a figure for me to go to them with, although they've told me to keep in mind that I'm in a very good position as I've the money in the bank and the mortgage ready to go, and the current market is so uncertain. The thing is I've no idea what to do! Offer to low and they could say no and they could find someone else, offer to high and then I'll be at risk of going over budget. With the market being so uncertain, I don't want to pay over the odds.

If you've any advice I'd be really grateful!!! This is my first time buying, and I'm really very nervous!

Thanks

Kate

Paley71

We have a buyer for our house and the survey is due to be done later this week...I know that we have damp and it will show up.
I'm fully prepared to knock 2k off or even give them cash back on completion to get the work done.
Having said that our damp isn't obvious at the moment as we've re decorated over the summer and it becomes more evident in the winter.
Was the damp clearly evident to you when you viewed the flat?
If it was then I'd expect you'd have more trouble negotiating as they could argue that you knew it was damp when you made your offer.

KHORLOR

Hi, and thanks for the quick reply....

We noticed a little bit of damp in one room, but didn't recognise it as rising damp, but put it down to the heating being off for while, so thought it would just be a small replastering job. But the Rising Damp is apparently in every room, and so will need replastering in every room! I don't even know about the wood damage yet! I'm trying to find another tradesman to come around for another quote and talk me through it all.
I take it that a quote from a damp company only includes the damp proofing and not the plastering? I'm looking on myhammer.co.uk to see quotes for plastering.

Cheers

Jazzypap

As it's a little chilly, forgive me if I don't 'bare' with you!!!

Did the valuation survey match that of your offer? If it did, then this is the value of the property in its current condition - of course, given the current market conditions, the costs for any work required should be able to be negotiated with the vendor, as it's doubtful he/she would want to risk losing a sale.

Incidentally, 'rising damp' is a very emotive subject, as you'd see if you typed it into G&&gle, some parties don't even believe it exists and is purely a conspiracy for some companies to obtain work. It would only be natural for a company to find rising damp if, coincidentally, they specialise in these types of repairs. I only mention this because we had a survey done some time ago and the surveyor stated that there was evidence of rising damp - we then commissioned our own independent survey and no damp whatsoever was found (the independent surveyor did mention that, as we have a non condensing tumble dryer, this may have given the impression of damp but our house was dry as a bone!!).

ncooper1974

KHORLOR wrote: »

Hi!!
The quote I've had is £2160 plus V.A.T. which means £2500!! This is obvioulsy a huge cost I hadn't thought of, plus there's the plastering and re-decoration.

thats a lot of money!
we had dampy treated last year at a cost to us of £800. They did the entire downstairs. And this was after the original survey quoted it at £2,700!

Agree, you then need to pay for the plastering and re-decoratoion, but I'm sure that price is on the high side!

KHORLOR

Well, I think (I've not yet received a hard copy of the survey) it's to treat it inside and outside, and possible the wood, as I'm above a cellar! The damp company used by the estate agents were also suggested by my solicitors as a reputable company. But you're right they may be trying to charge to much, which is why I want a second quote.

As for "Incidentally, 'rising damp' is a very emotive subject, as you'd see if you typed it into G&&gle, some parties don't even believe it exists and is purely a conspiracy for some companies to obtain work."

I'd looked this up which is how I came to writing on this site. The original basic survey which were looking for the value of the house said there was evidence of rising damp but couldn't find their way into the cellar to see how bad the problem was. It was because of this we arranged a survey by the damp and wood guys.... There doens't seem to be any explanation of why there's rising damp though. The cellar is dark and dingy, and quite damp.
Guess I'll have to get another quote, though my estate agents want an offer soon!

Being a single female, who works alot of hours buying my first place that's got such problems probably wasn't the best idea!!

Doozergirl

As it's a flat, the cost of major works, such as damp treatment, would normally be shared amongst all the flats Leases come in different shapes and sizes but I think most share the cost of any major work.

I'm one of those who are quite cynical about rising damp. The majority of surveys in older properties mention getting a damp specialist in. And when you get a damp specialist, suprise! They sell you a damp proofing solution! If it exists, you can see it, smell it and it needs addressing. If you have a patch, watch it, look for where it's coming from (it might not be from the ground at all) It also doesn't necessarily mean that you need to do every wall.

Apparantly every wall in my house needs it, despite already being done about 20 years ago. There is evidence of damp under the stairs, no where else. I can sniff damp out immediately and I've known it's in people's houses before they have

If there is a cellar then go into it, it's a real benefit as you can see what the house is made of! Look to see if the joist ends are rotten. That's what you're looking for mainly on the wood front.

Bamptonia

We have put in an offer on a house that has been accepted. We took a family friend, who's a builder, to view the property with us to check it over and he located damp on three exterior walls. We pointed this out to the vendor and I brought this up with both the selling agents and our solicitors, but the survey we had did not pick it up. Now the selling agents are disputing that we mentioned this at all. Are we in a position to do anything with regards to negotiations for work to be carried out or a reduction in our offer? The solicitor suggested that we ask the selling agents to use their contacts to obtain a quote for the work needed, but they state that this is not something they offer. What to do?!

poppysarah

Offer 95.

Pay less. be happy.

marmitequeen

I sold a flat and the buyer found rising damp - she got a couple of quotes and I got 3 quotes. We knocked the top and bottom out of contention and luckily the remaining 3 were pretty much the same so I took that price off the price of the flat. Originally the buyer asked for £5000 off but it ended up something like £1700. That included re-plastering. Not sure about decoration, but she'd already let slip that she didn't like my bright colours and was going to repaint anyway (heheh).

My advice to OP: get a few quotes and get your solicitor to start negotiating on your behalf. Good luck