Bad Smell - Damp - NHBC - Legal Action

Pambax

Hi we are currently renting a property to a family who have reported a really bad smell and signs of damp coming through the ground and up the walls, we contact NHBC as we have about 6mths left of the 10 year cover and they are slowly investigating this with no success at present, this has been going on for several months now and Environmental Health have now raised an issue with this and have said that NHBC are know to drag there heels until the time limit expires and more or less if we don't take legal action against them then the Environment people will take action against us for renting a sub standard property..... we really do just want to know the cause and to get it fixed but how can we hurry them along? What is the best course of action to take and has anyone else had propblems with NHBC?? Thanks a million peeps xx

LAEllis

is it a ground floor issue? sounds like rising damp. do you have flower beds etc outside the wall that is affected? if so you can dig down and pin some damp proofing to stop it.

DannyboyMidlands

Whatever the situation with the NHBC, you have a resposibility to provide decent accomodation to your tenants. Can't you instruct an independent damp survey?

Pambax

Oh there is definately damp, we have had the floors up and everything, the biulding contractor, water specialsit and plumbers the lot but no one can pin point the cause, they are really good tenants so we dont' want to lose them but no one seems to be able to tell us how to fix it, they put cameras under the ground and have checked the drainage in the garden and now they want to look under the neighbours floor to see if its coming from a main junction or something, the neighbour is obviously reluctant to let them do this and this is the position we are at - What I want to know is has anyone else experienced this with a house? How good are NHBC in dealing with these matters? Are NHBC taking there time so that the time limit expires and they can shift liability? - I will look into hiring someone independant so that I can report our findings to NHBC maybe??