House sale fallen through 3 times :-(

leriloo

I could really do with someones advice please :-)

We put our 2 bed Edwardian terraced house on the market in July for 195k. Within a week we sold it for 192k. Found a property we liked and had our offer accepted. Straight away our buyer started being awkward, he came and had a look a further 3 or 4 times, but wouldn't come when were available. The estate agents had a terrible time getting hold of him and he wouldn't answer any questions about whether he had a mortgage in place. He had a survey done on our house and slight damp was flagged up in the dining room. We have a 30 year warranty with Dampco (still got 20 years left), but that wasn't good enough for him. We got Dampco back and they said it was absolutely fine and that damp metres aren't really reliable. They wrote us a report which we passed on to our buyer, then 2 days later he came back and said "I just can't be bothered any more" and pulled out - we were 3 weeks away from exchanging. We couldn't get any further info out of him. We had meanwhile paid for a survey on the house we were buying - so lost the house and the money on the survey.

Anyway, it was now September and as we didn't feel that our estate agents helped much, we swapped to someone else. We had about 3 viewings a week with our new agents and at the end of Nov, we had a another offer (190k). We accepted, but again the buyer was awkward. She all of a sudden decided that as we were at the bottom of a small hill there was a chance that rainwater could flow down the hill and flood the house! Even though there was no evidence and the environment agency said the was no chance of it happening. So, 2 weeks in she pulled out.

We didn't get many viewings before Xmas, but in the new year loads of people showed interest. 3 Weeks ago I showed a lady around who seemed very interested. She came on the friday and looked around for an hour, then came on the saturday with a friend for another hour. Monday morning she put in an offer of 180k, which we refused. We managed to get her up to 187k. From then on we had contact from her nearly every day asking questions such as: where's the stop !!!!!

We found a house we liked and had our offer accepted, they wouldn't take it off the market until we had a survey done. So we instructed it and it was done last Friday.

Meanwhile our buyer had the survey done on our house. When the surveyor came round I tried to show him the Dampco report but he wasn't interested. He was very rude and wouldn't tell me anything.

Our buyer asked to come and view the house again and turned up on Sunday with half her family and was here for nearly 2 hours. They all loved the house and she was saying how it was fate that she had found it and how happy she was.

And then on Tuesday we had a call to say she had pulled out after seeing the survey. She won't tell us what was in it, she won't negotiate and she won't sell it to us. We managed to get out of our estate agent that she was worried about the (non-existant) damp, the fact that in the next 5-10 the small flat roof MAY need replacing. And apparantly somewhere (which we can't find) there is evidence of old woodworm, but it's not there now.

We are absolutely stumped now as to what to do. We are thinking that if 2 people pulled out over the survey it will happen again. If we knew what the problems were we could fix them. We are out of pocket for 2 surveys on other houses now, plus mortgage fees and solicitors fees and are running out of money.

Any advice would be most appreciated and sorry to go on!

Fire_Fox

Clearly the damp is not non-existent if TWO qualified surveyors have said there is moisture! It's in Dampco's interests to state that there is no damp otherwise they will need to do, (possibly expensive) remedial work). I suggest you pay for an independent timber and damp specialist to do a report.

bluejake

leriloo wrote: »

I could really do with someones advice please :-)



If we knew what the problems were we could fix them.

I agree with above. You seem to be simply dismissing what the surveyors are saying. Damp. Flat roof problem. Woodworm.

The potential buyers will be listening to and acting on what their surveyors are saying if they have any sense.

Do something about the damp/appearance of damp may be the solution.

CloudCuckooLand

I pulled out of a purchase two years ago, on the strength of survey findings. The owner tried to explain away a long list of issues. If they had accepted at least some of the findings, we might have been able to feel comfortable about finding a compromise.

Instead they rubbished the surveyor - who I'd paid £900+ for - and made me feel uncomfortable about dealing with them any further. Loss of trust I guess you could call it.

They went on to be SSTC twice after me, neither of which completed, so one wonders if they continued to suffer survey issues.

Finally late last summer, they sold for £45k less.

The moral? Not sure. But from a buyer's point of view, to have instructed a professional to fill a gap in expertise, at substantial expense, it makes no sense to then ignore their findings.


I agree with the comment that the damp company are not going to want to accept responsibility. Their stance does not mean there isn't an issue.


Get your own survey done so you can identify and fix the problems?

G_M

Damp is always a problem. Most standard damp meters used by the average surveyor are (reportedly) designed for wood. If there is damp in the wood it conducts electricity which shows up positive on the meter.

If you use these meters on a plaster wall, some of the wall ingredients are likely to conduct electricity, showing up positive on the meter even if there is no damp!

So that's problem 1.

Problem 2 is that many damp 'specialists' have a vested interest, either in selling you a damp solution, or, as in your case, in absolving themselves of responsibility.

And problem 3 is that surveyors doing brief valuations for mortgage lenders often cover themselves with caveats like 'seek further investigation from a damp specialist', thus causing the buyer to panic even though there is no actual evidence of damp!

Now I don't know how this helps you - I just throw it in as an explanation. You could try getting a true, independant specialist (NOT a damp proofing company) but this will not really help next time you find a buyer who instructs their own surveyor. Unless of course, there really is a source of damp (external pointing loose? leaking gutter dripping down the wall? Pile of earth against the external wall?) in which case you can sort the problem.

leriloo

We have since had an independent survey done, by an extremely experienced and qualified surveyor (unlike the 2 that have been out to us that were clearly just out of school and only spent 20 minutes looking around!). He says there is no damp problem, no woodworm and the flat roof is absolutely fine. No immediate work needs doing and it is in exactly the sort of condition he would expect it to be in. There were minor things which we will rectify ie we need to install an air brick and need to replace a section of fascia board. The problem is that we have paid good money for this survey, but potential buyers will still have to have their own and won't take ours into consideration. Personally I think that in the current climate buyers are trying it on and thinking they can get a bargain by knocking more money off after the survey is done. But obviously as nothing major is coming up in the survey they can't do this so are pulling out.

Blacksheep1979

leriloo wrote: »

Personally I think that in the current climate buyers are trying it on and thinking they can get a bargain by knocking more money off after the survey is done. But obviously as nothing major is coming up in the survey they can't do this so are pulling out.

Or maybe rephrase that to, in the current climate buyers think your property is overpriced yet you aren't willing to budge so they're trying any angle to bring it down to a more reasonable price...

Personally I know I'd trust someone who I'd instructed to do a survey more than someone you had as at the end of the day you're disposing of an asset and I'm buying it (so you have a vested interest in downplaying problems). I'm the one that's going to be left dealing with any issues and damp could be a costly issue.

Ulfar

So you have a damp guarantee and visible signs of damp that the company don't want to do anything about.

It may not be very serious now but it isn't going to get any better by ignoring it.

You want your buyers to take advice from the company who don't want to take corrective action over their own surveyor, I think you are being incredibly optimistic in this expectation.

If it is only a minor problem, get it sorted either via the guarantee or by another company. Check with friends and family and see if they know of a reliable company, I wouldn't go back to the past lot.

pinkshoes

Why don't you stop looking for houses, then move into rented accommodation for 6 months if/when you sell your property? That way you'll be in a better position as chain free, and won't have the issue of buyers pulling out. I know it means moving twice, but it might be worth it!

pastmybest

pinkshoes wrote: »

Why don't you stop looking for houses, then move into rented accommodation for 6 months if/when you sell your property? That way you'll be in a better position as chain free, and won't have the issue of buyers pulling out. I know it means moving twice, but it might be worth it!

This sounds good in theory but NEVER in practice as too stressful for most in their right minds.

G_M

Ulfar wrote: »

So you have a damp guarantee and visible signs of damp that the company don't want to do anything about.

It may not be very serious now but it isn't going to get any better by ignoring it.

You want your buyers to take advice from the company who don't want to take corrective action over their own surveyor, I think you are being incredibly optimistic in this expectation.

If it is only a minor problem, get it sorted either via the guarantee or by another company. Check with friends and family and see if they know of a reliable company, I wouldn't go back to the past lot.

Have I missed something? Nowhere can I see that the OP said there are :"visible signs of damp". That seems to be the OP's problem. There does not appear to actually be damp so it cannot be corrected.