Buying a flat, damp smell, help!

olly300

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I'd be knocking on the doors of the next-door neighbours and asking them about any damp problems they may know about.....

I would be thinking that extra spend on the conveyancing to make sure I was buying a lemon was lucky and pull out.

If 2 people who viewed the flat could smell/see obvious problems then there is a problem.

nic_santorini

Just a note about a home buyers report - they are not worth the paper they are written on. When my purchasers had theirs done to buy my house, the bath had overflowed just before he arrived and there was water coming through the ceiling and he did not notice!!, They also are not allowed to move any furniture, so if they cover it all up, then they won't find anything - I think the best thing is the damp indicator that someone else suggested - it could be a massive problem and cost you thousands. Has it got central heating or storage heaters/electric heaters? My sisters flat gets damp in one room because she tends not to heat that room, but it still does not smell musty. Get it checked out.

DieHard

G_M wrote: »

To me, this sounds a ludicrous reason for buying or falling in love with a flat.
Wardrobes, washing machine, dishwasher?!! A few hundred pounds. You can put these into ANY flat.

It is the FLAT that matters. Location, size, local amenities, underlying structure, even the management company/service charge set-up are more important than the things you have set your heart on.

That is a huge leap and a massive assumption. It is not like that at all, it is a nice flat and I can walk to work and it is about two miles from the town centre, which is a major city. I know all about the management company and service charge set up, I have no worries about any of those things.

Like I said earlier, I looked at a few flats in this block so clearly I was already happy with Location, size, local amenities, underlying structure.

The difference with this flat is it also has fitted wardrobes, fitted washing machine, fitted dishwasher and a fitted oven on top of all the other things you mentioned.

I didn't realise that what I wrote made it look like I set my heart on it because of those things because it is not the way I feel.

All I am concerned about is the smell of damp.

DieHard

nic_santorini wrote: »

They also are not allowed to move any furniture, so if they cover it all up.

I went back to the flat when they had moved everything out so I could see if they had covered anything up like burns, holes in the walls, suspicious patches etc and I couldn't find anything but I think I am going to have to get a professional to check it out.

It could be like Errata is suggesting and it might just be that the smell is worse because of the recent weather and the fact it is cold. It could disappear once someone is living in it and the heating is on properly etc or it could remain and I might just get used to it once I have lived there awhile. I just don't know.

blue_monkey_2

My mums ground floor HA flat has a terrible damp problem. In fact it was so bad the smell penetrated everything - clothes, food, it was awful but they seemed not to be able to smell it as they lived with it but we never used to visit as my asthma used to get bad after being in there.

However, it was so bad that they cannot have a carpet down as, eventually, mushrooms would grow on the carpet. They called loads of people out from the HA and EH but they reckoned they could not find anything wrong. Now they have to have laminate, and periodically it has to be ripped up and replaced.

And they had the heating on so it was not because it was unheated. It was awful and certainly much worse this time of year.

Wings

Wardobes on outside walls will always contain damp, so good first place to look. Painted walls can also indicate damp, running hands over walls for sign of moisture, areas of painted "layers" of paint, peeling or blistering paint, wet spots on walls, black moid on walls corners of ceilings, window cills etc.


Your solicitors enquiries with the seller's solicitors will ask if there has been any problems/history with damp.

Although, asanother poster stated "locking up" a property can lock in a musty, damp smell, that just needs the property living in and ventilating.

millym

Years ago my old neighbours were selling their ground floor flat which had no visible signs of dampness, but a funny smell, so the surveyor lifted a floorboard and basically it was a lake in the foundations, caused by a small leak...

BlondeHeadOn

What I will never understand is why people so often are reluctant to have a full survey done on a property they are about to buy, saving a few hundred quid while buying something for thousands.

Get a proper survey done.....

poppysarah

Speak to neighbours about the block and see how nice people are.
Mention the damp and see if anyone says anything.
Get a pair of binoculars and look at the outside of the building closely. IS there any damp outside the flat, above the flat etc.
Check the roofline. (Any repairs would be paid for by everyone so could cost you money)

DieHard

BlondeHeadOn wrote: »

What I will never understand is why people so often are reluctant to have a full survey done on a property they are about to buy, saving a few hundred quid while buying something for thousands.

Get a proper survey done.....

The cheapest option was a valuation, that was about £200, the home buyers report was £350 and a survey was obviously the most expensive of the three.

The flats were only built three years ago and I thought a survey was only necessary for older properties or properties where it is clear something is wrong when you go to view it.

It had nothing to do with saving a few hundred pounds. I thought I was being sensible by choosing the middle option rather than just going for the cheapest option while not going overboard by having a full survey done when I didn't feel it was necessary, obviously with hindsight I was wrong. If anything it was probably naivety due to being a first time buyer rather than the desire to save a few quid.

I thought I had all the angles covered but obviously I made a error in judgement but it is all part of the learning curve. What I am more interested in now is how to proceed from here, can I still get a full survey done?