house sale fallen through Rising damp in survey help!

chillbill

Hi all
Today I have found out that the person buying my house has pulled out - we were just over a week away from completion. I feel so upset and angry as we had found a house we love - which we could now lose and I also feel bad for the owners who are an elderly couple.:(

The estate agent has only been able to speak to the buyers boyfriend(the girl is buying the house on her own) and he was very vague saying the house was to noisy (we live on a busy road) and some other things -would not say what they were.

They had done a second viewing on the Tuesday and on the Wednesday a damp contracter came round to do a survey. The damp guy told my partner that we had rising damp and that this was typical for properties of this type and that it was not a problem but he would have to put it in the report (apparantly he was not supposed to tell us anything). He was in the house for a maximum of 15mins and stuck his machine on the walls.

We live in a 2 bed mid terrace which is over a hundred years old. The walls are solid stone. I have read on the internet that there is no such thing as rising damp and that the machine he used should only be used for timber.

There are no signs of damp - the walls are not wet and we do not have any mould.

If there is a problem we would like to get it sorted as we don't want it to affect any potential future sales. However there is so much conflicting info on the web re surveys assessments etc I'm not sure what we need to do next.

Any advice anyone has would be greatly appreciated - I feel so desperate
Thanks and sorry if this post is a bit long and rambling

Running_Horse

As a start, click on search button at top of page and enter "rising damp".

We had a small patch of rising damp despite having T&D guarantees, and naturally the company who did the original work denied any responsibility. And no there were no obvious signs. Cost about £600 to fix, and £2,000 for a small house sounds right.

Shame they didn't just ask for a discount, but maybe the road noise was enough to make them have buyer's regret.

<sebb>

Running_Horse wrote: »

Shame they didn't just ask for a discount, but maybe the road noise was enough to make them have buyer's regret.

You could just try and offer a discount or offer to fix the rising damp. But the chances are that was just an excuse to pull out.

littlesnuggy

There is such a thing as rising damp - stick a brick in a saucer of water for 30 mins and see what happens! A damp meter can be used to assist in the diagnosis of rising damp, ie to identify a pattern, but it should never be used as the be all and end all of the situation. If the surveyor says "this wall is x % damp" ignore everything else he has told you. A damp meter works on conductivity, and if for example you have wallpaper with a foil backing, it will give a high reading whether or not the wall is wet or not.

If the damp was the only problem, I would have expected the buyer to contact you to ask for a price reduction, not just pull out altogether. If there really is damp in the property, you can expect future buyers to want it fixed / a contribution to fixing it, so may be worthwhile you getting your own survey done. Was the firm who came initially a reputable one & were they members of the PCA?

chillbill

Hi Running Horse thanks for replying:)
I have put rising damp in the search and have also done a lot of looking on the internet.

But because the info is mixed and refers to various house builds was after simething a bit more specific. Also wanting to know what to ask etc if we did get a specialist round as there seem to be a lot of cowboys out there.

On the forums here most people with damp issues seem to be describing visible symptoms - wet walls etc whereas we have a nice warm house, no paint peel white residue nothing:o

£2000 is frightening!:eek:
Re the road frustrating thing is is that it didn't bother the girl who is the purchaser - she loved the house EA thinks the boyfriend has put her off and he isn't even buying. So at the moment I am on the wine have bought a scratch card and am thinking of making a voodoo doll of the boyfriend

G_M

From what you say I doubt you have damp. Littlesnuggy's description of 'damp meters' (actually conductivity meters) is correct. Read this.

But I suspect they pulled out for a variety of reasons.

we were just over a week away from completion.

I assume you mean Exchange?

chillbill

Hi little snuggy and sebb
We have had no real reason as to why she has pulled out and she is avoiding the EA to give any clear explanation - I think she is probably emabarassed at pulling out at this late stage. So negotiating is not an option for us.

If there is a problem I will be happy to get it fixed but have read so many posts saying that rising damp is rarely the issue and people spend a fortune on damp proofing only for the problem to remain. Or worst case there is no damp and the damp guy is not qualified etc

I was hoping that I may get some advice with regards to the ype of house/walls we have - I know it will be limited but am desperate for anything

I have no idea about the guys reliabilty as he was hired by the buyer - I have not seen the report, but am going by what he said to my partner. He just said it was normal in this type of house and most people live with it and it is not a problem - which on one hand is reassuring but also confusing as people run a mile at the mention of damp:(

littlesnuggy

G_M wrote: »

From what you say I doubt you have damp. Littlesnuggy's description of 'damp meters' (actually conductivity meters) is correct. Read this.

But I suspect they pulled out for a variety of reasons.


I assume you mean Exchange?

No, no, no! Please don't read that jeff howell article linked above. Some of what he says is correct, but a lot of it is not and could lead you into trouble, arguing wrongly that your property can't be damp because 'rising damp doesn't exist'. Rising damp does exist and a reputable surveyor will diagnose it accurately.

new_home_owner_3

A lot of the time they say rising damp its just a bit of moisture in brickwork, we bought a house with so called damp and after close inspection afterward the house just needed reheating and drying out, ive also put a new dpc course and that cost me 140 pound, the damp people are propper rip off merchants, they do a report and say it can not be conclusive until carpets and skirting are took up, but theyll still put a quote down of nearly 2000 pound.:eek:

Sorry to hear about your predicament, but if they havent asked for a reductiction for the damp work, they obviously dont want to buy your house.

chillbill

Hi GM
Thanks for the link - it's one of the many I have read but just causes me more confusion!

Completion/Exchange - I am a complete numbskull with all the terms - not sure which I meant but I had spoken to solicitors this morning who said everything was going smoothly and that the moving day was likely to be 1st April - April fools day perhaps that was a warning!

I think you are right that more than one reason for pulling out - it would just be nice to know (although I do know the major reason is the moron boyfriend scuse my french)

I feel really frustrated that she is doing a huge adult responsible etc thing yet is behaving in a very childish way by hiding and not giving us a decent reason - afterall we are going to lose a lot of money because of her - sorry still really upset and angry:mad:

<sebb>

chillbill wrote: »

Hi little snuggy and sebb
We have had no real reason as to why she has pulled out and she is avoiding the EA to give any clear explanation - I think she is probably emabarassed at pulling out at this late stage. So negotiating is not an option for us.

There's a good chance that there are other reasons for the buyer pulling out. I recently pulled out of my sale becuase there were no building completion certificates for the conversion of the house to flats. I could have given them the option to get the certificates retrospectively, but they had lied to me on so many occasions that I no longer had any trust in the house or the vendor. I also began to have doubts about resaleability due to lack of garden and parking. I'm not saying for one minute that you have done anything so dishonest, but I wrote 6 different letters to my EA ranging from being totally honest as above, to saying nothing other than I was pulling out before settlling on a middle ground because pulling out of a sale and letting people down was quite a difficult thing for me to do. It might be that they havent actually told you the "real" reason and they could just be using the damp as an excuse.

You could still offer to fix the problem to their satisfaction and see what they say. If they say no, then it's likely that the damp was not the real reason for them pullling out.