Rising damp in house we are selling...

Gordon_Hose

Our surveyor found 'rising damp' in the 110 year old house we bought. We got in an independent surveyor in for £250 to have a look turned out to be condensation in the kitchen, recommended humidistat fans as the humidity level in the house was 60%.

The concrete path laid in the garden had breached the DPC slightly so there was a little penetrating damp in the dining room but he said it was nothing to worry about and whenever we come to re-decorate/renovate in the future we can sort it then.

Best £250 we have ever spent, it put the OH's mind at rest cos she was worried. Surveyors cover themselves thoroughly, so something that may trivial will be made out to be something worse than it actually is on the survey.

Habbakuk

Strange that the OP hasn't replies seeing that several people have spent their own time providing advice......

cyclonebri1

Habbakuk wrote: »

Strange that the OP hasn't replies seeing that several people have spent their own time providing advice......

It's par for the course I'm afraid, courtesy, (in my view), dictates at least a written thanks .

I square that by looking at it from the fact that anyone searching replies to a similar question has the benefit of the ;)replies to view.

chacha5520

Thanks everyone for your very useful replies, sorry it's taken a few days to respond. Didn't mean to be discourteous just have a lot on at the moment on top of a very stressful house sale/purchase.

We have booked a specialist surveyor to come and inspect the so called rising damp. Unfortunately they can't come till next week. In the meantime the buyers have asked for a reduction in price of 5k. Not sure now whether to accept that as it matches the valuation price or whether to be bullish about it. At the moment we think we might just shake on that to get it agreed and move on. I know we would have a very good argument but we won't have our report for another week and the longer this goes on the more impatient our vendors are getting.

It's a bit of a racket this isn't it! No wonder the economy rises and falls with the housing market. Thanks again for the advice.

sulphate

What's the market like where you are? Did you have much interest in the property?

If I was in your situation, I would tell your buyers to wait until you've had the results of the independent survey. Then you will look to negotiate on price, if necessary.

We had a similar "damp!" flag on our homebuyers report, paid for an independent surveyor who said there were no real problems and we just had to have the ground level lowered. No problems since we moved in last summer.

chacha5520

It's definitely a sellers market here, we had 35 viewings in a week, 11 above asking price offers. House came on market this week at 10k higher than ours and sold in a week again. The trouble is our vendor wants a quick sale they accepted our offer, 5k lower than another because we could at that point move quickly. Our buyers hadn't started getting worried at that point.

Another potential 2 weeks delay could make them go back to the other offer. Arggh! I know we shouldn't be caving for this because I think you are all right and it's bogus damp.

DRP

chacha5520 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your very useful replies, sorry it's taken a few days to respond. Didn't mean to be discourteous just have a lot on at the moment on top of a very stressful house sale/purchase.

We have booked a specialist surveyor to come and inspect the so called rising damp. Unfortunately they can't come till next week. In the meantime the buyers have asked for a reduction in price of 5k. Not sure now whether to accept that as it matches the valuation price or whether to be bullish about it. At the moment we think we might just shake on that to get it agreed and move on. I know we would have a very good argument but we won't have our report for another week and the longer this goes on the more impatient our vendors are getting.

It's a bit of a racket this isn't it! No wonder the economy rises and falls with the housing market. Thanks again for the advice.

5k is their suggestion.

You both want the deal to go through, so why not suggest splitting the difference.

Gordon_Hose

Where did they get £5k from? From their backsides, I expect.

If the market is good where you are I'd tell them they need to wait until you've had the survey done.