Do I have a leg to stand on?

Pud1985

Hi all,



First of all, any advice or help anyone can throw my way will be greatly appreciated.



Last year in June me and my partner purchased what we thought was our dream home. Everything seemed perfect. The survey report came back fine and so we exchanged conracts and moved in.



Around September time last year we started to notice paintwork flaking and bubbling in 3 rooms, which were getting progressively worse. I got an inspector round who told us we had damp issues.

I took this up with the suverying company who said they checked some walls but no dampness was found. The walls in question were obstructured by something so couldn't be checked. Basically said they've done what they should have and fault doesn't lie with them. They also mentioned it was just a home buyers report which isn't a full structural indepth look.

When we purchased the property we were just given 2 options through our finacial advisor, a cheaper one and this home buyers report, the more expensive one. We were not made aware of any further options..



fast forward to now and the situation is much worse. one of the walls in question is wet through and the other two walls look terrible and it's spreading.

We did find the garuntee of the original damp proof course and contacted the company but they said because it's not within the first 3 months of purcahsing the property we are no longer covered. We were never made aware of this through our solictors.



We have since had another survey done by a damp contractor and in his wors "Paint over it and sell it". The problem is bad now. The render on the outside is terrible apparantly and the previous home owner just covered up the cracks and painted over it to make it look fine. He says we have every type of damp going.

We're looking at a outlay of £6,600 intially to solve the problems on the inside and inject more damp proof, whatever it is. Removing plaster etc. and £8000+ on the outside removing all the render etc.



I'm losing sleep over this now. We have jsut had a baby so money is a little tight as it is.
It looks like we may have to take out a huge loan to cover all these repairs but i'm just hoping somewhere in that above, we have a claim that someone has messed up?


Does anyone have advice or can see anywhere where the surveryors or solicitors would be held liable?



Sorry it's a wall of text.

foxy-stoat

You could give your conveyancing solicitor a call and see if there is any come back, I doubt it though. I wouldnt spend money trying to claim off the vendors as its one thing to win and another to get any money out of them. If it is an older property then you have to expect that it will need maintenance at some point.

On the legal forms you have to complete when selling I dont remember seeing a question about issues or problems with damp or peeling paint.

If you have a photo of the external area where the water is coming in there may be some obvious signs but render does a good job of hiding stuff.

Doozergirl

You DO NOT need to inject a DPC.

These 'surveyors' are charlatans or utterly clueless, at best. "If" the render is shot then the render is the cause of penetrating damp.

I have my own opinion in whether an injected DPC works at all even when the water is from the ground, but these people are even telling you it's getting in through the upper parts of the wall and still suggesting a DPC that supposedly prevents damp from the ground upwards. It defies logic!

Have you looked outside when it's raining? Is all of the rainwater going where it should - ie. along gutters, down the drainpipes and well away from the house into drains?

Do the marks on the wall correspond with cracks in the render? How bad do you think the render is? What does your survey say about the condition of the render?

What you need to find is the genuine cause. Stop listening to these cheap/free people and pay for a proper survey with an independent damp specialist who does not sell the services to 'fix' it.

If you want to post up photos, we can help you find the cause, perhaps. You want to post photos of whole walls, inside and out. Yes, you can post closer up ones if you like, but it's the wider context that helps look for clues as to the cause.

Let's address this methodically. Establish cause first, then how to address it and whether there could possibly be some come back on the surveyor.

gwynlas

Totally agree with Doozergirl above. Full structural survey mght have identified problem earlier but this can be rectified. Stop worrying about what you cannot control, get problem fixed and enjoy your home.

[Deleted User]

I do enjoy a damp question pop up on the forums. Place a bet with myself to see if Doozer has come along and posted the crusade against the damp industry :-)


I completely agree with Doozer for what its worth. I got quoted £7k for damp treatment of a 140 year old house. Turns out the house had just been empty for 2 years and no windows had been opened, coupled with a leak under the sink meant the water had nowhere to breathe. I ended up hacking the plaster off, drying out the walls, and replastering with normal plaster and have had zero issues since. Also opened the trickle vents on the windows to let some air flow.

The damp industry is an absolute con


I am pretty sure there is a question to be raised about the legal process as it should be a fairly common question just to rule it out. I was pretty sure damp was a question on the serllers paperwork but icould be wrong.

Find what is causing the damp and fix it, then dry the house out. It will be quicker to take the plaster off and replaster once dry.

MEM62

As already advised, your conveyancing solicitor will advise what recourse, if any, you have.

With respect to the home buyers survey, this is very basic and, in real terms, does little more than ensure that the property has sufficient value to cover the mortgage lender. Had you had a full survey you would have more protection had the surveyor missed something.

I would not consider selling. Get a proper builder in (not someone just selling damp treatments) to give you an opinion. You may find that the remedy not as expensive as you have been led to believe.

TBagpuss

I think it is very unlikely that you have any recourse.

Surveyors normally only report on visible signs of damp and would recommend you get a specilist survey if they see any.

Solicitors don't view the property and are not liable for it's condition.

If the sellers lied and deliberately misled you then you might have a claim against them, but I think it is unlikley - unless they explicitly said that there were no damp issues, and you can prove that they definitely knew there were...

I'd suggest getting a builder round to lookat it and advise - it may be that you need to repair guttering and render rather than having a damp course injected.


(FWIW, I got a damp survey when I bought my current house as there were some signs of mould in places, and I am very cautious. The survey recommended a lot of expensive work including an injectable damp course. I didn't have it done striaght away, partly as I didn't have the spare cash and partly as I had conversations with a friend with a lot of building experience, and my new neighbour - and 5 years on, still haven't - I did have some broken guttering fixed and had a radiator installed in the downstairs toilet which was where the wors of the mould was, and haven't had any issues since, so I thonk the problem was the leaky gutter and the cold / condensation in the downstairs loo, niether of which the specilist damp guys mentioned at all. )

Owain_Moneysaver

Water has to be coming from somewhere.

Find where the water is coming from and stop it coming.

If the damp is at low level first priority is to check for raised external ground level / bridged damp course / blocked airbricks / failed drains.

If the damp is at high level first priority is blocked gutters / failed flashings round chimneys.

FreeBear

Doozergirl wrote: »

Do the marks on the wall correspond with cracks in the render?

I have quite a few cracks in my render, some have been patched in years gone by. In spite of the cracks, there is no damp on the internal walls. The only time I have had problems with damp, the cause could be attributed to leaking/overflowing rain goods, faulty flashing, or debris inside a cavity. None of these problems would have been fixed by injected DPCs, and waterproof plaster would only mask the problem in the short term.

Doozergirl

FreeBear wrote: »

I have quite a few cracks in my render, some have been patched in years gone by. In spite of the cracks, there is no damp on the internal walls. The only time I have had problems with damp, the cause could be attributed to leaking/overflowing rain goods, faulty flashing, or debris inside a cavity. None of these problems would have been fixed by injected DPCs, and waterproof plaster would only mask the problem in the short term.

I'm inclined to agree, tbh. We're in our third rendered house ourselves and have mended cracks but never seen anything inside.

The flaky paint makes me think of rainwater.