Potential purchase and damp

scot22_2

I am considering buying a second home.  The surveyor has advised that there is some penetrating damp.  It is an old building which has been well maintained.  Someone said a mortgage company might say it is uninhabitable.  Is this remotely possible ?

Cakeguts

Who was the someone?

Doozergirl

Gotta love a "someone". 

Never heard of a mortgage being refused for it.    In fact, most of these cases of damp don't even exist. 

Find out if it is actual visible first, then work out what the source is (ground levels too high, leaky gutters), fix it, let the wall dry out.  Job done. 

Do not have a free survey.  They will sell you a chemical damp proof course.  The only effective thing about it is rendering inside, simply hiding it on the other side of the wall. 

Damp is almost always really cheap to sort out when you follow a logical process.   Stop the leak, let it dry.  

FreeBear

Doozergirl said: Do not have a free survey.  They will sell you a chemical damp proof course.  The only effective thing about it is rendering inside, simply hiding it on the other side of the wall.

Not sure I would have used the word "effective". The waterproof render/plaster that these damp proofing companies slap on walls masks the problem for a few years. The damp then pops up again either through cracks in the render, or at a higher level. And in the years that it takes, further damage to the bricks often occurs.

If a mortgage company sets eyes on the survey, they may hold back a percentage of the funds subject to remedial work being completed - Often specifying a PCA approved contractor (the same people that give out free damp surveys and do all the ineffective "cures").... Fix the problem at the source, and you will not need to waste money on these expensive treatments.

Doozergirl

FreeBear said:

Doozergirl said: Do not have a free survey.  They will sell you a chemical damp proof course.  The only effective thing about it is rendering inside, simply hiding it on the other side of the wall.

Not sure I would have used the word "effective". The waterproof render/plaster that these damp proofing companies slap on walls masks the problem for a few years. The damp then pops up again either through cracks in the render, or at a higher level. And in the years that it takes, further damage to the bricks often occurs.

If a mortgage company sets eyes on the survey, they may hold back a percentage of the funds subject to remedial work being completed - Often specifying a PCA approved contractor (the same people that give out free damp surveys and do all the ineffective "cures").... Fix the problem at the source, and you will not need to waste money on these expensive treatments.

You explained it better than I did.  Effective isn't the right word, but people think it is because they believe it's the new magical DPC working and not just a massive, expensive sticking plaster over the weeping sore that will eventually leach out.  

notrouble

Remotely possible? Yes of course. But very remotely!

As freebear/doozergirl have said, invesigate first whether the damp genuinely exists (often does not) and then what the cause is (often easy/cheap to fix)