Valuation - "Damp Proof Course is Bridged" - What to do?

tates1979

Hi all,

OH and I have sale agreed on a house, built round 2000 - semi detached.

We have got our valuation survey back from Halifax's valuers, who state:

"The damp proof course is bridged and may not be fully effective"

The current owners have laid down lovely brick paving over the back garden as they said their boys like to play football on it! I take it this is probably what has "bridged" the DPC within the required 6"?

If so - what steps do we take - do we haggle over price or ask current owners to sort it out before completion?

Thanks in advance!!

silvercar

Every house we have bought have said the patio/ driveway is too high!

The problem is that it will cost too much to lower the whole patio and so people are reluctant to do so.

If there have been no damp readings on the internal wall, I doubt the seller will be prepared to do anything about it.

Doozergirl

You don't have to remove the whole thing. At least it's block-paved.

You should bring it back away from the wall, neaten it off properly with raised edging bricks, but still make sure there is still a decent gap between them and the wall. The you make sure the DPC isn't being breached and cover the mess behind with gravel to keep it neat. Obviously the gravel doesn't want to breach the DPC either.

It won't cost a fortune to do but the block paving company should probably do it if you want it to look half decent.

silvercar

There must be some safety margin in this 6 inch rule, especially if the patio slopes away from the house. We have not had damp readings in any of our previous houses, yet they were all apparently built too high.

Doozergirl

Well common sense tells you that if there is nothing actually breaching the DPC itself then it should work.