Buying a house with damp

Brgold

Hi can you help a MSE newbie?

I am buying a house with a damp problem. The problem was identified when a previous prospective buyer had a survey and dropped out of the purchase. Since then then vendor has installed a new damp proof course and replastered the walls and replaced skirting. Following my private survey the surveyor is unable to tell if this has fixed the problem as the work has only recently been completed so the walls have not had time to dry out (not helped by being an empty house with no heating on).

His suggestion is to get some money held back for x months to ensure the solution fixes the problem, if so money is released to vendor, if not released to me in order to pay for repairs. I am, in principle, happy with this approach.

However I was wondering what the mortgage company may think of this approach? They have yet to conduct their own valuation report and I was wondering if they test for damp? Is this something I should raise with the vendor now? Or wait for mortgage valuation?

Just trying to understand possibilities

Many thanks

Gromitt

They normally test for damp but its more of a quick visual check of the walls and taking a reading from a meter. They won't be removing the plaster from the walls to check.

cramg

Installing a new damp proof course, re-plastering and fitting new skirting boards may only 'cover up' the problem and not solve the damp issue.
It could only be minor damp, but if the said work has been carried out, this would suggest it has been rather serious.

Damp inside a house could spiral at a rapid rate and end up costing you thousands to rectify.

If it was me, i would not buy a house that had a damp problem..

KateLiana27

I would not commit to the sale until you have clear evidence the damp problem has been resolved.

If the vendors are convinced that it has, surely they would be prepared to heat and dry out the house as quickly as possible to demonstrate this? Leaving it empty and unheated with wet walls is just plain daft.

I wouldn't mess around with holding money back - it sounds like a recipe for many happy hours in court proving that the damp problem was not, in fact, resolved. Satisfy yourself that all problems have been resolved before committing your life savings.

carrijohnson

I think you should talk to your mortgage company if you are desperate to move and hold the money back but ideally you should wait until the damp issue is completely resolved

Imelda

We bought a house with damp. We had an independent survey to find out what actually needed doing (rather than a damp company telling us what they wanted to do), knocked some money off the purchase price and got the work done ourselves so that we were satisfied that it had been done "properly". It wasn't and the "guarantees" really aren't worth the paper they are written on. Even so, if you do go ahead get the vendor to pay the £50 or whatever fee the damp company demands to transfer it to you- every little helps.

The mortgage company said they would retain £3k until the work was done and that it would have to be done within 3 mths, as it happens they didn't retain the £3k in the end as we had a high LTV ratio and couldn't have given a fig when I sent a statement of completion for the works.

For what it's worth I wouldn't buy another property with damp issues, it has been nothing but problems, cost and disruption.

Brgold

Thanks for your help so far. I have today been to the estate agents to discuss this with them and requested detail of the work that has been undertaken and I will provide an update