Clear Home Report, offer accepted, damp/mould worry

helenjones2

Hello all,

I just got an offer accepted for a detached house (first time buyer).

Home report mentions no issues at all. I had viewed it a week a go, all seemed fine, except
this large mould mark in the ground floor bathroom:

imgur[dot]com/oNaoWxR.jpg

Above this bathroom is another bathroom.

Should something like this have been mentioned in the Home Report, and how serious is this?
The agent present at the viewing was not very informative.

I called the agency and they said: "the surveyor probably did not see that as a problem now, it was maybe in the past. Just might need a paint over."

The home owner had moved to a pension home, so the agency is handling the sale.

I made the offer because it was detached house and at a very good price. Here houses go within a week. If the Home reports shows no issues, surely they can't get away with falsifying/misinforming information?

I spoke to my solicitor and he recommended I get a damp specialist to check it out this week if the agency approves it.

I appreciate any feedback. Thank you.

theartfullodger

Get a full structural survey done.



If the owner is in a care home who & how will any agreement to sell/change price etc etc be signed and approved? Could take months and months before owner or someone with PoA agrees and signs...

helenjones2

Sorry forgot to mention the property is being sold by a guardian for the owner.
The Office of the Public Guardian approved the offer within 2 days, which was surprisingly fast.

davidmcn

It doesn't look like mould, more like a stain from a leak. Could well all be sorted but seems odd nobody bothered to paint over it. And Home Reports will usually mention evidence of previous water damage even if obviously old. I would check out the upstairs bathroom carefully.

sevenhills

helenjones2 wrote: »

Hello all,

I just got an offer accepted for a detached house (first time buyer).
Home report mentions no issues at all. I had viewed it a week a go, all seemed fine, except
this large mould mark in the ground floor bathroom:
imgur[dot]com/oNaoWxR.jpg
Above this bathroom is another bathroom.

If you saw it, then a surveyer should have spotted it. Most houses will have the odd issue, I suspect it will be minor, it depends on how risk averse you are.

AdrianC

Surely you didn't need the report to tell you about that...?

It's not mould, it's stained from a leak. If everything's dry, then it's historic, and should just paint over, perhaps with a coat of stain-blocker first.

Although I'd be wanting to skim that ceiling...

AlexMac

I agree with Davidmcn; it's staining from a water leak from the upstairs plumbing, futher confirmed by the much less obvious vertical stain down the left hand wall, along the line of the plasterboard. So, water has puddled under the floor of the upstairs bathroom, seeped through the ceiling plasterboard and a little has run sideways and travelled down the side wall, along the joint between the wall boards.

So, assuming the cause of the leak is fixed, it's trivial- paint over it with oil-based or obliterating paint before redecorating.

Or run the central heating upstairs, run all the taps for a long time, run any shower, flush the loo several times etc to see if the damp recurs from plumbing pipes, radiators or towel rail, shower/bath seals or toilet soilpipe and see if the ceiling is damp to the touch. But even fixing a minor plumbing leak is trivial; a bit less so if you have to hack off tiles to fix it.

So don't panic! A Homebuyers'report doesn't check much, so while a full survey might be a good idea if it gives you peace of mind, I wouldn't bother and never have. Although we sometimes take an experienced builder round any house we're buying- the Brother in law does our once-overs.

I too would be wanting to get rid of that very dated Artex textured paint by skimming it; that also removes any worry about older Artex containing (relatively safe and stable) asbestos

theartfullodger

Look like OK: Buy!

helenjones2

AlexMac wrote: »

I agree with Davidmcn; it's staining from a water leak from the upstairs plumbing, futher confirmed by the much less obvious vertical stain down the left hand wall, along the line of the plasterboard. So, water has puddled under the floor of the upstairs bathroom, seeped through the ceiling plasterboard and a little has run sideways and travelled down the side wall, along the joint between the wall boards.

So, assuming the cause of the leak is fixed, it's trivial- paint over it with oil-based or obliterating paint before redecorating.

Or run the central heating upstairs, run all the taps for a long time, run any shower, flush the loo several times etc to see if the damp recurs from plumbing pipes, radiators or towel rail, shower/bath seals or toilet soilpipe and see if the ceiling is damp to the touch. But even fixing a minor plumbing leak is trivial; a bit less so if you have to hack off tiles to fix it.

So don't panic! A Homebuyers'report doesn't check much, so while a full survey might be a good idea if it gives you peace of mind, I wouldn't bother and never have. Although we sometimes take an experienced builder round any house we're buying- the Brother in law does our once-overs.

I too would be wanting to get rid of that very dated Artex textured paint by skimming it; that also removes any worry about older Artex containing (relatively safe and stable) asbestos

Thank you for the detailed response.

The boiler was shut down due to winter time and nobody living there since October 2018.
I know I made a mistake by not asking for it to be turned on and have a deeper look (turn on all taps/flush loo) while I was there.

Hiring a damp specialist will be around £500/£800 to confirm the situation, which maybe I could ask to discount price of property. However I feel agency could get frustrated and accept offer from someone else if they've told me it's not a issue.

I'll ask the agency on Monday if i can go to the property in the evening and run the water taps/heating, etc.

Thanks

googler

If you're buying in Scotland, and your offer has been accepted, it will be expected that you conclude missives prior to getting any further viewings.

Your offer probably has a standard clause such as

9. ACCESS
The Seller will after conclusion of the Missives and upon receipt of reasonable notice by the Purchaser give access to the Purchaser or his agents to the Property at reasonable times for the purposes of inspection, measurement or the provision of quotations. This right of access however shall not be exercised on more than 2
occasions without the consent of the Seller.

- - -

The unspoken implication being that once your offer is accepted, you don't get any more viewings prior to conclusion of missives.

If I were selling, and it had been unoccupied for months, with everything drained down and switched off, to prevent pipes freezing etc. when nobody is there, and the house isn't heated, I wouldn't be letting a viewer in to turn them on, puddle about, then go away ....

helenjones2

googler wrote: »

If you're buying in Scotland, and your offer has been accepted, it will be expected that you conclude missives prior to getting any further viewings.

Your offer probably has a standard clause such as

9. ACCESS
The Seller will after conclusion of the Missives and upon receipt of reasonable notice by the Purchaser give access to the Purchaser or his agents to the Property at reasonable times for the purposes of inspection, measurement or the provision of quotations. This right of access however shall not be exercised on more than 2
occasions without the consent of the Seller.

- - -

The unspoken implication being that once your offer is accepted, you don't get any more viewings prior to conclusion of missives.

If I were selling, and it had been unoccupied for months, with everything drained down and switched off, to prevent pipes freezing etc. when nobody is there, and the house isn't heated, I wouldn't be letting a viewer in to turn them on, puddle about, then go away ....

It is in Scotland.

Yes my solicitor did mention that they can decline me the request to view the property again or have a damp specialist come in to have a look now.

The houses in this area sell fast, so I am curious why they would not just turn them back on after January knowing that it will sell within weeks?

That makes it sound like the damp issue is still there and the agency want them off/drained down so potential buyers are just assured by home report that everything is fine?