Damp shown on survey

Istanbully

I'm in the process of buying a house and have had the valuation back from the bank showing "high levels of rising dampness detected to various external and internal walls".

It goes on to advise that a BWPDA registered timber and damp treatment specialist should inspect the property and follow whatever treatment they recommend.

My question is who is responsible for paying for this?

We haven't exchanged contracts yet if that makes a difference.

What leverage do I haev to insist that the vendor pays for this?
Who should manage the process of sourcing the damp specialist?

Thanks in advance.

Fire_Fox

The purchased usually organises a damp and timber survey, I have previously had good experience with Rentokil, and then negotiate a reduction in the sale price to reflect the bank's valuation and amount of damp work that needs doing. If you allow the vendor to organise the damp survey they might choose a mate ...

lv565

Hi, we are also buying our first house and got a valuation back that sounded like that. Our estate agent was very helpful and arranged a company to do a damp report for us. There are a lot of companies that will do this for free as they give you a quote for them to do the work.
Our valuation stated 'patchy apparent rising dampness' which worried me. However on getting the specialist damp report back it was actually a problem with penetrating damp in a tiny corner of the dining room. They quoted £500 to fix it.
I think they make things sound worse than they are to cover themselves if there was a big problem.
We didnt notice any damp when we viewed the property and we would know if we saw it as our rented property is suffering from it now. We wont get the work done unless it becomes a lot worse, and even then its only going to cost us £500 not £2000-3000 like I first thought.

Good luck!

Istanbully

Not sure I fully trust my estate agent to recommend a truely independent supplier, but thanks both for the advice.

Good to know

jessbob

Is there not a damp proof guarantee for the property?

You should check with your solicitors to see if there is before you instruct someone to give a report.