Help - big problems found with new home

Horizon81

I've never sold a house before so can someone enlighten me... When a seller sells a house is he legally obliged to list all faults with the house like damp? Do solicitors ask for this?

I always thought it was a case of buyer beware hence the need to do a proper survey rather than rely on the valuation or the honesty of the seller. And if your builder says it's obvious from outside then surely the seller could argue the same and say it's your fault for not spotting it.

Fire_Fox

As vendor you are obliged to answer all questions truthfully, so if you are asked about damp or subsidence or dodgy neighbours you must be honest. It is buyer beware as obviously vendors won't necessarily know if the didn't have a survey, or a major issue such as dry rot has remained hidden. The obvious thing to do is get all your guarantees together, so if damp is asked about you can say "rising damp was identified when we purchased the house, here is proof that it has been resolved".

Patchio123

I think you're now aware of the importance of getting a survey done, and you'll never make that mistake again, I know I won't.

I had this happen to me when we rushed a move whilst I was pregnant. We had a damp problem in the babies bedroom which was on the ground floor which turned out to be penetrating damp. It was a case of finding the cause and rectifying it, taking off the affected plaster and replastering. We took away the cavity wall insulation also as it was bridging the cavity.

How old exactly is the house? I take it its quite old and doesn't have a cavity between the walls.

Does the water run down the wall outside the babies bedroom? the guttering issue is almost definitely the cause? Personally I would put some water sealing paint on the outside of the house (around £15 at Focus) where this is an issue to start dryng it out. Get a dehumidifier also, they're around £50 in argos. If its wet rot it can only be affecting the timber. What timber is this?, is the house of standard construction?

It never cost us much more than a couple of bags of plaster, we did all the work ourselves, so although we had a major problem is doesn't always have to be costly.

I second all the others on getting various quotes.

keith969

daniel0408 wrote: »

Moved into a property two months ago. Having some deocarating done and the builder has found a huge area of wet rot in the upstairs bedroom which may be right across the whole back of the house. It sounds like a huge job to remedy. Basically something isn't in place on the drain pipe and so water has run down and into the walls rotting all the timber.

Where is the rot? Is it in floorboards, joists, ceiling timbers or what? Sounds like the first thing is to get a few quotes on what work needs doing and how much its going to cost. Wet rot isn't too bad, the timber just needs stripping out and replacing (and obviously the source of the water fixed). If its dry rot it can be a bit more tricky.

As others have said, trying to make a case against the vendor or the surveyor is probably a waste of time and potentially more expensive than paying up to have the work done.

Milliewilly

Daniel,

Having spent 4 years of my life and £13K in legal fees suing a surveyor its not something to enter into lightly.

Contrary to some of the replies on here a basic valuation does not absolve the surveyor of liability - this has been proven in Court many times. The problem I can see here is that you got a 'free' valuation so there is not a direct contract between you and the valuation surveyor so I think you will struggle to sue them.

Regarding the vendors I was in the same position - I asked the direct questions and was blatantly lied to. I found out and got statements from neighbours that the vendor knew the house was structurally unsound and that was why they were moving, he had had structural engineers round to insepct etc (they had inherited some money so that was their get out of jail card as they didn't work).

So - I also sued the vendor and got nowhere. It was my word against his and when the heat was on he even said I had asked him to hide any faults from the surveyor to make sure the sale went through. In the end my solicitor advised that it was not worth pursuing the vendor because even if successful the Court would view a token payment each week to be an acceptable settlement and I was looking for a lump sum payment to enable me to move on and sell the house.

I have since heard they have got subsidence on the house they bought so thats Karma for you.

If I was in your position I would get quotes for the work to be done and if its a few thousand just pay it and move on hard as it may be. I have never bought a house since without a Full Structural survey.