Is my damp proof guarentee void?

lhughes

Hi There

I am a first time buyer purchasing a 2 bedroom house and damp has come up in the survey.
Now the whole property was damp proofed in 2004 and my solicitors have given me the damp proof guarentee that last for 30 years? This was done by *name removed* based in the *name removed* area.

*Name removed* are saying that when they did the damp proofing the current owner used his own plasterer afterwards, and therefore that has void the guarentee? Does this make sence to anybody?

Surely they knew at the time of work being completed they hadn't been quoted to do the plastering, therefore shouldnt have issued a guarentee? Or are they trying to swiddle us?

As the property has a retention on it for £3000 now, we have had quotes in and Every wall needs damp proofing again and the work is £2500! I believe myself and the owner are to split this cost and get the work done between exchange and completion, but I feel that we shouldnt be paying as we have a guarentee??

Can anybody help a first time buyer with some advice or direction I need to go in - as you can image by budgets are tight and dont want to be paying out if I don't have to.

Thanks Lucy

ormus

warranties for any building work and home improvements are virtually worthless. youve learned a lesson.
tell the vendor your walking away from the house, and see if they will stand the cost or not.
there are thousands of more houses for sale.

lhughes

Do you think it is worth getting my solicitor to look into the guarentee or is there no point?
I told my estate agents that Im willing to pay £750 towards it or else I will pull out ... we shall have to see what happens then...

David_Aldred

Hi,
The contractor quite rightly is only liable for the work they undertook - in this case it appears to be only the chemical injection contractor (a) undertook which they are liable for; with the associated re-plastering which they are not responsible for undertaken by a third party contractor (b). If there is a problem with the injection damp proof course contractor (a) needs to be asked to confirm their damp proof course remains effective. If the problem lies with the re-plastering then contractor (a) is not liable for that problem.

Please remember that contractor (a) may issue a long term guarantee but contractor (b) may not have issued any guarantee at all. Since the chemical damp proof course system relies upon the re-plastering to be to specification it is always a good idea to have the same contractor undertake both to avoid such split liability in the future. What you really need to know is where the problem lies - the chemical injection or the re-plastering? Kindest regards David Aldred Independent damp and timber surveyor

xinebessa

We had a very similer situation to this one, we had a survey done prior to buying the house which found damp in several of the walls, confusing since we had been told all about the DPC that had been installed quite recently!

Got the company who did it in and they told us that the walls were still drying out.

A year down the line the house is still damp so we get them back in and they tell us that they didn't do the plastering, that the DPC had been bridged and that it needed to be replastered which they would do... for a price.

We managed to get the damp proofing company to agree to pay for the work if we payed for materials (halving the cost). Might be worth persuing this line with the company...

Kingsd316

Usually the guarentee is only voided if the wall has been drilled into, getting your own plasterer should have no impact on the warranty