Buying first home - survey/damp issues

vitaminz

Hi I'm buying my first home with my fiancee and we've had our home buyer report results back today and I'm a bit concerned. The house is unoccupied and has been refurbished, and we were told previously that there was damp in the house and it had been treated. You can still patches on the walls however but we were assumed this was fine.

Anyway we had the survey report back today and it's raised a few issues, all regarding damp. See below extract of the report:

The walls are of solid, rendered, masonry construction. The front walls have been rebuilt and are
of cavity construction with a rendered outer leaf. The inner leaf is believed to be blockwork. The
walls are a mixture of pebble dash & smooth rendered. There are several air vents to ventilate the
air space beneath the ground floor. Internally, the external walls have been plastered; whilst those
in the kitchen and utility have been dry-lined with plasterboard with a final coat of plaster.

The front walls contain a plastic damp-proof course. We cannot confirm whether a damp-proof
course is present on the rear walls because of the external render coating obscuring the
construction. However, bearing in mind the age of the property, the walls are likely to have a
chemical damp-proof course.

High damp meter readings were recorded internally throughout the ground floor. We believe these
high reading are due to a combination of factors such as the absence of an effective damp-proof
course, the failure of the existing damp-proof course and the external render bridging the dampproof
course. It is evident that a damp and treatment has been undertaken and, if enforceable
guarantees exist, the original treatment company should return and report. However, as this will
take some time, you should ask a Property Care Association (https://www.property-care.org/) registered
company surveyor to inspect the property for damp and report to you before exchange of
contracts so that all costs of treatment are known before purchase. Any further inspection should
include a check on the whole property. We refer you to the page in this report entitled 'What to do
now'. This is a risk to the building and we refer you to our comments in Section J. Condition
Rating 3. Further Investigation.

In addition to any damp treatment necessary, the sub-floor ventilation should be improved and all
sub-floor areas should be exposed and inspected for further decay and we refer you to our
comments later in this report.

And in section J this is stated in 'risks to the building'

E1: Chimney stacks - damp within stack/s;
E2: Roof coverings - defective fillets/flashings;
E3: Rainwater pipes and gutters - defective/leaking gutters;
E4: Main walls - damp present;
F1: Roof structure - damp penetration;
F4: Floors - damp present; inadequate under-floor ventilation

Can anybody maybe give a better idea of what the implication is of this? It's obviously very concerning but could some of it be the result of damp that has been 'resolved'?

G_M

Perhaps the damp is residual from before the renovation - damp takes a long time to dry out. If so, you have little to worry about. Buy the property, keep your fingers crossed, and pray.

Or perhaps there are still issues which continue to cause damp, either rising &/or penetrating (or indeed falling - see chimney stack reference).

You could go down the warranty route. See if the seller has a valid warranty, get the comapny involved, try to resolve any issues. as stated this could take time and depends if there IS a valid warranty.

You could employ an independant damp surveyor. This would only be worthwhile if the seller gave permission for the surveyor to expose what he needs to see, eg lift floorboards, remove render to check dpc behind, etc. Sellers are frequently reluctant to allow surveyors to cause damage. But this would at least give you a better idea of what is really wrong and what it will cost to remedy


Or you could walk away.

vitaminz

Thanks, we really love the house and are absolutely gutted. I'm hoping to get an idea on the warranty/proof of repairs tomorrow but I think pulling out may be the best choice

JigglyPug

Personally I wouldn't pull out just yet - damp isn't the end of the world, and can be treated easily enough. I would first contact the surveyor and ask them about the damp that they saw, then go back to the seller and ask them what works they had done to fix the damp issue. From there, you can get a better idea of what has happened already and decide what to do going forward.

armchaireconomist

So you've problems with the gutters and roof (no doubt letting water in and causing damp) as well as residual damp from the fault they have original resolved.

Personally, i'd use this to negotiate a lower price and start with new gutters and flashing with replaced cracked tiles.

Worth remembering also that if it's unoccupied it's no doubt not being heated - you'll find once occupied the house will begin drying out.


I bought a terrace with damp problems at a 25% markdown. In the end I replaced about 10 tiles, re-painted some wooden fascia and cemented a small hole in a blocked drain funnelling water into the wall. Just waiting on it all drying out now... ALL houses hold moisture and the majority of the time they're painfully easy fixes.

alumende27

How old is the house?

I had a house that had terrible damp problems, including the basement (to the point that everything was getting covered in a fine mould).

Passive ventilation (i.e. an open window in the basement) solved all the issues there, and an extractor fan in the kitchen and bathroom, and replacement of some old cement with lead flashing on the roof sorted the others.

In your survey section J, it references E1-E4 and F1 and F4. What does it actually say in those section of the report. Are they marked as 2 or 3?

Rainwater gutters and downpipes, if marked as a 3 (Defects which are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently), should be dealt with as soon as possible. Defective guttering can cause serious damage to a house over time and is one of the cheapest things to remedy.

You should speak to the surveyor in the first instance if you have concerns about what he has written in the survey.

thesurveyor

I'm having a very similar issue. Would anybody be willing to have a glance over certain accpects of my home buyers report by if I post it. Myself and my fianc! are first time buyers so we don't have any experience with this sort of thing. Thanks in advance 😀

Cakeguts

I wouldn't buy it simply because you said that it had been refurbished but the roof needs some work and the gutters leak. A refurbished house would not have a leaking roof. I think what you mean by refurbished is that they have changed some of the cosmetic fittings and decorated. The most important part of a house is the structure. If the roof leaks for long enough the house will fall down. The structure has to be sound first. You can easily replace everything inside so don't buy a house just because it looks nice inside.

AlexMac

OP- did you get to see the evidence of recent damp works and guarantees if any, as you said was likely?

If so, be aware that a formal guarantee by a specialist damp or timber firm will only provide remedy for the very specific areas treated; so any bits they didn't address in the first place (for example failing to clear airbricks to improve underfloor ventilation or failing to install these if absent; failing to remedy dampcourse "bridging"; failing to replace any sub-floor timbers if these had been undermined by damp...). Similarly, if the work was done by a general builder rtaher than a Damp specialist, there might be no enforceable guarantee.

Having said that, everything is fixable, as the poster above says; I'd get some prices for the remedial work and negotate on price if as you say, you really love the house. Buildings are very "forgiving" especialy older ones, and tend to bounce back after the sources of penetrating or rising damp are eliminated; especially if you then heat and ventilate well to elimnate atmospheric damp and condensation. The work you describe would only cost the low thousands to do, assumng the roof doesn't need total replacement.

Good luck

The_Logans

We bought an old house (1850s) in 2010. Survey was ok, but after we moved in we discovered 'hidden' evidence of damp by the previous owners. Cleverly placed wood panelling etc. However, we got it all sorted, it cost us a few thousand pounds and we now try to keep the place well heated and ventilated. In a very old house like ours you will never eliminate every trace of damp, but it really isn't an issue. If you have a few thousand you can spend sorting it out (i.e. negotiate it off the price) then don't be put off by the dampness alone. We also had to replace most of the roof. That's another story!

vitaminz

Thanks everyone - I've been given an invoice that shows they had they had a £1,200 treatment for penetrating damp performed (leaky roof etc), but after speaking to the surveyor he has said the issue is with rising damp on the rear wall.

I've attached the full (but obscured for privacy) survey, I'd be really grateful if anyone could possibly take a look and give their opinion. If I can knock off a few grand, could it be worth it?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q39mo55x4vrl1gc/101-1179702676%20-%20Copy_Redacted.pdf?dl=0

Thanks!