Buyer may pull out - what happens?

sallycinnamon1980_2

Hello,

I thought I would post this question (which is stressing me to death!) as I know how helpful members on this forum are.

I have recently accepted an offer on my flat after being on the market for 2 years. It is a low offer for the area and 10k less than I still owe on the mortgage. The reason I have accepted such a low offer is that I am desperate to get rid of my flat.

Anyway, I now have had a call from EA as the survey came back with good results except for excess moisture in the air. My flat is empty and has been for over a year - I am not entitled to rent it out by HSBC as I don't have enough equity in it. They buyer is going to have a damp report done on the flat - which is fair enough. I am just worried because I think they might end up dropping out if damp is found (I had someone to check it when I lived there and there was no problem but he was a friend of a friend and don't entirely trust him). I have had condensation in the past but speaking to people this tells me it's quite common n 70 year old flats.

If they do drop out do I have to pay solicitors fees?

I would appreciate any help.

Thank you very much!

xx

Ulfar

Go round and air the flat out.

poppysarah

Get the heating on

<sebb>

sallycinnamon1980 wrote: »

Hello,

If they do drop out do I have to pay solicitors fees?

You'll probably have to pay your solicitors fees (unless you came to an agreement that there would be no fee if the buyer pulled out) but you wont have to pay theirs.

Fire_Fox

sallycinnamon1980 wrote: »

Hello,

I thought I would post this question (which is stressing me to death!) as I know how helpful members on this forum are.

I have recently accepted an offer on my flat after being on the market for 2 years. It is a low offer for the area and 10k less than I still owe on the mortgage. The reason I have accepted such a low offer is that I am desperate to get rid of my flat.

Anyway, I now have had a call from EA as the survey came back with good results except for excess moisture in the air. My flat is empty and has been for over a year - I am not entitled to rent it out by HSBC as I don't have enough equity in it. They buyer is going to have a damp report done on the flat - which is fair enough. I am just worried because I think they might end up dropping out if damp is found (I had someone to check it when I lived there and there was no problem but he was a friend of a friend and don't entirely trust him). I have had condensation in the past but speaking to people this tells me it's quite common n 70 year old flats.

If they do drop out do I have to pay solicitors fees?

I would appreciate any help.

Thank you very much!

xx

Air the flat or get a dehumidifier running in there or, if extractors are vented to the outside (not always), keep them running continuously. Heating alone will not remove any water from the property, only ventilation will do that.

G_M

It depends on the contract you signed with the solicitor. If 'no sale no fee', then ... no fee. Otherwise they'll probobly charge a % of the total fee depending on how much work they've done.

RX-78

Most solicitors will only charge a small fee (or %) if you agree to stay with them for subsequent conveyance. I had a few that said £50-100 charge + disbursements if the buyer pulls out provided I stay with them. My current one (who have been very good so far but early days yet) have agreed no fee if the buyer pulls out provided I stay with them. But there again my conveyancer is charging a bit more then others to start off with anyway!

Doozergirl

These meters don't atually measure 'damp'. If you've had condensation but no evidence of damp then this is what it is likely to be.

If your buyers have a free survey by a damp company that sell produts then they will almost ertainly be told that they need some kind of damp-proofing solution as these are sales people. To get an impartial view, you would need to pay for an independent survey.

Is it a ground floor flat if we are looking for 'damp'? Does it have double glazing? Condensation in older houses can often be sorted by simply reinstating fireplaces to allow airflow.

Fire_Fox

Doozergirl wrote: »

These meters don't atually measure 'damp'. If you've had condensation but no evidence of damp then this is what it is likely to be.

If your buyers have a free survey by a damp company that sell produts then they will almost ertainly be told that they need some kind of damp-proofing solution as these are sales people. To get an impartial view, you would need to pay for an independent survey.

Is it a ground floor flat if we are looking for 'damp'? Does it have double glazing? Condensation in older houses can often be sorted by simply reinstating fireplaces to allow airflow.

The OP said damp in the air, Doozergirl, not damp in the fabric of the building.

David_Aldred

Hi Sallycinnamon1980,
If the surveyor has picked up excessive relative humidity at time of their visit then it will depend upon whether this was a transient or relatively constant issue as to how much it will have impacted upon the fabric of the building. Most building materials are porous and will want to be in balance with their surroundings so if the quantity of moisture in the air is high then they will want to absorb this moisture until they are in equilibrium with it. This can result in the fabric of the building becoming very damp, though if it were the case one might imagine the surveyor would have noted more than excessive moisture in the air.

If it is an imbalance of heating / ventilation that has brought about this issue since you lived there a year ago then as indicated by other contributors to the forum above, drying the flat down should be a number one priority. The rate of natural drying down for walls is slow and under good conditions the best that could be hoped for would be 25mm wall thickness per calender month. Forced drying down is an option but be mindful of consequential damage that can occur as a result of doing this too quickly such as shrinkage, cracking and warping.

A domestic sized de-humidifier may well not be adeqaute and hiring of an industrial sized unit on a short term basis may provide more of an intial hit but these and their effects should be monitored closely during use to ensure the above problems do not occur and that they are regularly emptied, coupled with the above comments of appropriate heating and ventilation.

Kindest regards, David Aldred Independent damp and timber surveyor

Doozergirl

Fire_Fox wrote: »

The OP said damp in the air, Doozergirl, not damp in the fabric of the building.

I'm not sure what I said that was wrong. If they get a 'specialist' in, they will sell them some pointless kind of solution like a box that pumps fresh air into the house or something which solves a ventilation issue but then so does unplugging some of the gaps that might have been there originally that allowed the house to breathe and any exess humidity to dissipate.

If it's in the air and it's truly a problem then it must be settling on the walls as well in the form of condensation. I'm not suggesting it's in the fabric of the walls but a damp solutions company is more than likely who they are going to get to come and look for it and, as they always do, find some kind of problem to fix and a product to sell (even if it is just a simple case of ventilating a house that's been sealed up in the way that we do things now, when the house was built to breathe). When they sit empty I'm sure they are wetter than they are when they are lived in anyway.

It's a sod for the OP as I think they are already in a situation where they can't win, although if there was a condensation issue before it's probably something that should have been addressed before this point.