Buyer wants floor lifted to insp Damp

AnotherJoe

Usually the surveyor will not lift carpets themselves, they will advise the buyer get specialists in, so they can't do it there and then. It's pretty much standard to say that damp has been found and get a damp specialist to investigate the cause. So the surveyor could not have done it whilst they were there. Even if they had the necessary skills they were no doubt on a schedule and couldn't have disrupted all the other visits to spend half a day investigating.

I think you can forget the early completion, so you can say that as there's not going to be one,that whatever reduction in price there is dependent upon the results of the damp survey, comes off the original price not the current agreed one.

I'm sorry you are not well, but that doesn't mean the buyers shouldn't investigate properly.

dirty_magic

I'd let them do it on the basis that they put it back as they found it, but I'd still ask them to do it in an area that you can't see. Could they do it in a part covered by the sofa or a piece of furniture?

We had our carpets lifted during work on central heating and they haven't gone back perfectly. We didn't try too hard though tbh because they'll be replaced anyway.

Davesnave

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Usually the surveyor will not lift carpets themselves, they will advise the buyer get specialists in, so they can't do it there and then. It's pretty much standard to say that damp has been found and get a damp specialist to investigate the cause..

If I read the OP correctly, this was the specialist:

"The buyer had a Damp expert come round on Tuesday to inspect the problems after her survey picked it up."

AnotherJoe

Ok seems like a rubbish specialist then. Not really the fault of the buyers, just one of those things.

The situation is now as it is, looks as if it's cost the buyers their £7500 early completion discount but fact is this work needs to be done unless the OP is willing to gamble on another buyer not finding damp and not doing this.

Desb1966

Exactly, that's part of my frustration plus it took him 2 days to come back, he could have done it during his initial visit could he not?

AnotherJoe

Desb1966 wrote: »

Exactly, that's part of my frustration plus it took him 2 days to come back, he could have done it during his initial visit could he not?

Maybe, maybe not, depends what was on his schedule rest of the day. Maybe the initial thought was the cause could easily be seen and it would take an hour, and then it turned into a bigger job needing more time (and thus money) to investigate the damage and this needed permission from the buyers. The two days to come back, i doubt he was longing in his back garden sipping lager, no doubt he had other work scheduled and needed to get the buyers to authorize extra spend.

Whatever the reason, you are where you are. You should focus on what to do now, not what could have been. For the buyers, it seems reasonable to point out to them that the early move discount of £7,500 no longer applies. You may of course lose them. This is all part of the joy of selling a house, **** happens.

Davesnave

Desb1966 wrote: »

Exactly, that's part of my frustration plus it took him 2 days to come back, he could have done it during his initial visit could he not?

As I hinted in my original post, your buyer knows you are keen to move quickly and it seems things have done so, until now.

What I can't understand is why it took them so long to get the general survey done, or if that was done early, why this follow-up damp report wasn't also commissioned speedily.

I'd be worried that they were trying to use it to put pressure on me.

DRP

We got a specialist damp guy in and the owner wouldn't allow them to lift trapdoor in the floor or any floorboards. We discovered a bad damp problem when we moved in that is n't easy (cheap) to resolve.

In your situation i probably woudn't allow it , but the buyer will have to cover themselves for any potential problems - so expect a further request for a discount if you don't let them inspect.

david1951

Is there actually a damp patch on the wall? Have you had problems with damp?

If you look under any Victorian property in the U.K. you are likely to see some moisture/dampness but this doesn't really mean much unless it's causing a problem. It could be a slightly naive buyer being shaken up by survey wording and a damp 'salesman'.

OTOH it could be that everyone is being honest and there is a real problem.

You might be surprised at how easily carpet, underlay and floorboards can be taken up and put back. Personally I would let them get on with it.