Buying house- damp- what to do?

queenA

We are first time buyers who have had a survey done on a house. We needed to provide a wall tie/damp/timber report following this for the mortgage.

We had an independent specialist come in and basically, there is a lot damp in the house, more than we realised and the house needs wall ties doing as well. Roughly costs are around £14,000

I'd like to know if anyone has successfully treated damp and moisture in their home? Also, from experience, would anyone say it is worth buying a house in this condition as we have no idea what to do. The house was marketed as 'in need of modernisation' but this is looking more like a renovation...!

We don't know if the seller will reduce price as she knocked 15k off the asking price due to its condition.

Any thoughts/advice welcome. Thanks

Fire_Fox

What do you mean by an independent specialist - was the damp survey free (a quote from a DPC) or did you pay for it (someone recommended by your surveyor)? What sort of damp did they find: condensation, rising or penetrating damp? Have you got a spare £14K to do this work, I presume there is a retention on the mortgage?

'In need of modernisation' is estate agent speak for a renovation project, and they are usually priced accordingly. Have you looked at land registry sold priced for the street or local area?

poppysarah

Find another house.

even if she knocks the money off the price there's no saying that'll be enough to sort the problem out.

queenA

The damp/timber/wall tie survey was done by a specialist surveyor and definitely not for free (cost over £200!). The damp was found along the full height of the walls inside and not just down towards the bottom. The reasons for moisture in the home are numerous, for example, cavities outside covered in debris, defective cavity trays, wrong materials used in repointing, leakage from the rainwater pipes saturating the brickwork and resulting in internal dampness etc. Pretty grim I know.

Our instinct is to walk away, depsite the fact that the house is a good size and in the right location for us- we have been looking for over a year. It's heartbreaking to realise the house is in a much poorer condition than we thought.

I just wanted to get more opinions from people who had faced similar problems with damp in a house they wanted to buy before we pulled out...

Thanks again

queenA

Sorry, just to add, the amount we offered was reasonable considering the condition of the house -we honestly thought, it would just need a new kitchen, plastering, and some work to the garage, some work to the obvious patch of damp by the door, new carpets, double glazing (ie. "modernising"!) but other than that, didn't expect it to be as bad as this! We checked house prices in the area. Also, the valuation for the mortgage matched our offer, despite it's condition.

kmmr

I fixed some damp in a basement flat that was found by the surveyor, and the place is fine now. Was much less than yours, although the initial quote of £1800 did turn into over £2k in the end.

I love renovation projects, so I would always say go for it! Just make sure you have the cash to do it, can live out if needed, and that the price you pay + the renovation costs + a healthy contingency budget is still LESS than the price of the AVERAGE similar renovated house in the area.

It's the best way to get more house for your money, but renovation is risky... although it can be very rewarding too!

kmmr

Do you have a link for us nosy people to have a look?

justjohn

if you knock them down in price always knock down for more than the cost of the work(highest quote of course).

queenA

Kmmr- Unfortunately, no link. They never put pictures of the inside of the house on the website...but I could see past all the clutter and dated decor- just felt lovely and spacious compared to all the little box room houses we went to see! Its a 1930's detached house.

In terms of money- All 30k we had saved up was going into the deposit, and we were going to borrow 15k from family to do the house up. Don't think we could borrow another 14k from family for all the stuff found on this damp survey as well! Sellers would have to knock the price down but I doubt we'll have enough to do the necessary work after this. But I guess we just needed to know how successful people have been with getting rid of damp so we can make a better decision

kmmr

Well if you can see through the clutter, and the bad marketing, you can sometimes find a good deal. I'm always tempted by terrible pictures of cluttered rooms... as it puts off some viewers and puts you in a position to bargain.

Do you have a builder who can come and have a look at the work? Do you know what a similar sized renovated flat has sold for recently?

As you said, you get more space if it's a mess and you have to do work. If you can control yourself while renovating (keep an eye on the DIY section of this board, especially for kitchens) you can get a better house for your money.

queenA

I know- it would be worth it in the end if i knew that the problems causing the damp could be fixed....but we have 2 children to think about and so the upheaval and committment of doing up a house completely makes it lose its appeal somewhat! We're all gutted- the children especially as we've saved and saved for years, and have finally found something we liked, only for it to be riddled with damp