Seller hid damp problem!!

Milliewilly

Rainyday100 wrote: »

I got caught our very similarly a few years ago. An potentially expensive mistake that we've not repeated!

We moved into a house after only having a basic valuation. The first thing we noticed on moving in was the smell, as soon as we opened the front door. We thought we had a sewer back up, it was that bad. Turns out that when they had an extension built they had transferred all the kitchen plumbing from the main drain (they had blocked it into the wall) to straight under the house. When we pulled floorboards up there was still water right there, half an inch from the surface! We got it fixed, luckily my Dad was a plumber so it took a lot of the expense. But it ruined the house for us and we moved again within two years.

We realised, looking back, that they were cooking every time we viewed, something to be wary of. and they had furniture where the rotten floorboards were. There's no way they didn't know, at one point we had mushrooms growing!!

Anyway, we chased the various people and, as said on here, had no recourse at all. So instead we sent a letter intended to make them feel very very bad, and guilty to the sellers solicitor to pass on. I'm sure they couldn't give a toss, but we felt better for it!

So, full survey, and be wary of cooking smells!

Bad luck OP on the damp, hope you get it sorted soon.

But the key difference here is you didn't ask the Vendor when viewing about any problems with the drains / extension. If the Vendors aren't asked then they don't have to volunteer information and it is a case of Caveat Emptor.

_Andy_

Never ceases to amaze me how people, whilst willing to spend hundreds of thousands on a house, will scrimp a couple of £100 on the survey.

G_M

Never ceases to amaze me how people, whilst willing to spend hundreds of thousands on a house, will view a couple of times for 10-15 minutes each time. Yet when buying a 2nd hand car they'll lift the bonnet, kick the tyres, take it for a test drive, check all the gadgets work, peer underneath with a torch................

sunshinetours

OP may or may not have a case - facts given simply aren't enough. It may just be condensation damp which and extractor and open windows in this weather may well sort
Bottom line it sounds like you have very little hope of proving what was and wasn't said. Also don't understand about how you know about the other damp survey? If you can prove the vendor lied to you after you asked the question about damp and had a survey done himself which doesn't support that lie you may have a point to argue

Next time get a survey not a valuation report for the mortgage company which has pretty no much liability to you unless the house turns out to be practically falling down

Rainyday100

Milliewilly wrote: »

But the key difference here is you didn't ask the Vendor when viewing about any problems with the drains / extension. If the Vendors aren't asked then they don't have to volunteer information and it is a case of Caveat Emptor.

Yep, learned the hard way, but lesson well and truly learned. However, I have to say, the question 'when you built the extension did you change your kitchen plumbing so that every appliance empties out directly beneath the house?' actually never occurred to me to ask. Funny that.

quantumdefect

We've bought the house we already live in from a sibling left by will. The other half has lived here for 25 years and I have for 2, but we still got a full structural survey done so that we know what is wrong with the property in a professional's view. Is that being risk averse or sensible?

I don't think you have any recourse what so ever, £750 would have saved you a PV outlay of hundreds of thousands of pounds.