problems following our house purchase!!

sthelensdanielle · 11 February 2009 at 12:49AM

hi everyone.

my partner and i bought our house around 16 months ago and after around a year of living in the property we began to have an awful problem with damp. subsequently we have had to have a damp course done fit a new kitchen and undertake alot of redecoration amounting to several thousands of pounds.
the previous owner bought the house to do it up and sell on and has cut many corners!!!! he told us that there had been a damp course done on the house however this was not the case!! i have checked the survey and nothing was mentioned about the damp and i have no certificate for the 'apparent' damp course that had been done. does anyone know if there is any way of reclaiming any of the money back for the work we have had to complete?? we did not claim on the insurance. i dont know why we didnt do this??? is there any way of reclaiming the money on the insurance, even though we have already done the work? we do have recipts and it was all done recently.
with possible redundency for my partner we are very worried about future money situtations and have used the little saving we had on this work.

please help.

thanks x

maninthestreet · 11 February 2009 at 12:55AM

Did the previous put in writing the statement concerning the damp course?
What survey did you have carried out on the house prior to purchase?

sthelensdanielle · 11 February 2009 at 1:07AM

we just had a basic survey through our estate agent. we are young first time buyers and were silly enough to take the sellers word that there was a damp course done on the house. the damp was so severe that it is obvious that there was already a problem and the seller had covered this problem up. is there any legal requirements that the seller had not followed here?? and shouldn't a basic survey have picked up on the damp?

thanks for your reply x

Wickedkitten · 11 February 2009 at 1:19AM

Afraid not

maninthestreet · 11 February 2009 at 1:24AM

'Caveat Emptor' applies - a House Buyer's survey would probably have revealed the damp problem in the house.

hamblettamaud · 11 February 2009 at 1:28AM

tbh, i think your problem is with the surveyor, not the seller. the seller was quite entitled to cover up any problems (imho). however, i also think it may be problematic following through with any complaint with the surveyor. he will only say that you paid for a basic survey (which i assume you did). in my experience a basic survey means the surveyor could've done it driving past the property without getting out of the car.

m1ntie · 11 February 2009 at 1:31AM

It sound as though it was a building society valuation and not a survey.

hamblettamaud · 11 February 2009 at 1:41AM

m1ntie wrote: »

It sound as though it was a building society valuation and not a survey.

ah, i didn't know there was a difference -i thought a surveyor could've done both.

anyway, can i ask? am i right - a seller can cover up problems and corner-cutting?? surely it is up to the buyer (or the surveyor) to uncover these things ...

edit: i don't mean cover up by direct lying. i mean cover up, eg, covering up a damp spot by hanging a poster on top of it. i always thought it was a case of "buyers beware".

Wickedkitten · 11 February 2009 at 9:16AM

hamblettamaud wrote: »

ah, i didn't know there was a difference -i thought a surveyor could've done both.

anyway, can i ask? am i right - a seller can cover up problems and corner-cutting?? surely it is up to the buyer (or the surveyor) to uncover these things ...

edit: i don't mean cover up by direct lying. i mean cover up, eg, covering up a damp spot by hanging a poster on top of it. i always thought it was a case of "buyers beware".

Aye if they had actually had a homebuyers survey done rather than a mortgage valuation they would have been cautioned on having a damp survey done. Ours actually pointed out there was a damp proof course but recommended the damp survey as well. Something sounds well off actually

after around a year of living in the property we began to have an awful problem with damp

the damp was so severe that it is obvious that there was already a problem

Surely if it was that severe, there would have been telltale signs and it wouldn't have taken them an entire year to notice, no?

To the OP, how old is your house and what kind of damp is it?

poppysarah · 11 February 2009 at 9:30AM

Your mortgage company let you buy a rotten damp house? Don't they noramally insist on a survey?

Davesnave · 11 February 2009 at 9:34AM

Without a proper survey beyond a building society one, there's no legal come-back, unless the house is not 'as described.' It would be unlikely that anyone would describe the house as 'not damp'(!) so the old caveat emptor applies.