Rainfall water puddling in cellar - do we declare

haylsmomof3

Good evening please help
myself and my husband have lived in our Victorian terrace for 13 years now. It is very well loved and we have spent a lot of money on the property in the years we have been here. We are now a family of 5 and needed a bigger property so we have sold to a lovely young couple and are about 4 weeks from moving. In the last week the drainage point in the cellar has allowed water into the cellar, it’s come over the lip of the drain and is puddling about an inch deep and currently a metre or so across. We have asked builders and estate agent friends for advice and they have all said we don’t need to declare it as it has not been sold as a habitable space nor have we claimed to have done anything with the cellar other than use it for garden equipment storage. The drain point yearly round has water sat and our buyers have had 3 surveyors view the cellar who will have seen the drainage point and note the non dry floor but that it was a well maintained well ventilated space. They had made recommendations to treat the timbers for which we reduced the price accordingly for the work. We believe that the extreme rainfall at the start of the month has meant groundwater has come up and as the drain point often comes up and then goes back down this will be the case this year also but it has just come up further than usual. Do we need to declare this before the sale is completed or is anyone every expecting a non ranked cellar to be dry? A builder has said that anyone buying a period property expects an amount of water to come in at wet times of year and dry out in better seasons hence the need for it to be well ventilated. I worry a lot and may be worrying about nothing. Should it be announced or sold as they surveyed it? 

Many thanks in advance 

davidmcn

You only need to "declare" things as answers to questions you are asked (if you choose to answer them). And this isn't (I think) going to fall under any of the standard queries.

Doozergirl

...and it is normal! 

Davesnave

Doozergirl said:

...and it is normal! 

It is, though we have had heavy rainfall at other times in the last 13 years!

If the water has risen higher than it normally does, there could be something else aiding the saturation of the ground nearby, like a leaking pipe or drain, or maybe a spring has re-routed itself, but that might not even be on your property.

This isn't something you need worry about, though. Just be glad you're leaving!

haylsmomof3

I really do appreciate the responses. I have lost a lot of sleep in the last few days over it, we are ready to move with school places set up, our dream home secured and I worry if declaring it gave our buyers cold feet they may pull out and square one given the current climate may mean we’d not find new buyers and it would all collapse. The water in the drain does come up and down and has done so over the 13 years, occasionally breaching the lip creating a small puddle. The ground below is obviously wet as the floor bricks are only (partially)dry in summer. This breach is larger than usual but I did see that October 3rd was the wettest day on record so I had hoped it was a knock on from that? I’m no expert and so many people have said it is normal and not to worry but I remember months ago signing a form saying the property has never flooded and I guess I worry that this may constitute as ‘flooding’? 

Davesnave

haylsmomof3 said:

 I remember months ago signing a form saying the property has never flooded and I guess I worry that this may constitute as ‘flooding’? 

No, certainly not, because it's not in a habitable space and a very common thing in properties where the cellar has no tanking, which is most of them.

Unicorn_cottage

You say 3 surveyors have viewed the cellar does that mean they have had 3 surveys done?

davidmcn

haylsmomof3 said:

I guess I worry that this may constitute as ‘flooding’? 

No, it constitutes a damp cellar. This constitutes flooding:

haylsmomof3

davidmcn said:

haylsmomof3 said:

I guess I worry that this may constitute as ‘flooding’? 

No, it constitutes a damp cellar. This constitutes flooding:

I do appreciate the humour as it’s amazing how much it can weigh heavy and then seeing how much people see it as a small deal does help - thank you ☺️

haylsmomof3

Unicorn_cottage said:

You say 3 surveyors have viewed the cellar does that mean they have had 3 surveys done?

Yes, initially the lenders survey which is know is mainly to value the property but they did view the cellar and raised no damp concerns. 

The buyers then instructed a full survey, again he accessed the cellar, we made him aware of the damp floor as I asked him to remove his shoes once he’d been down there for the sake of my carpets ☺️. He reported it was a well maintained well ventilated space but that he thought the timbers of the floor above may be showing signs of needing treatment. 

Off the back of this they sent a timber and damp surveyor to see what he thought, again viewing the cellar he commented that the timbers at the end of the external wall could do with treating as it had not been done for some time to stop rot. He quoted £700 and we adjusted the sale price on request of our buyers. 

As 3 ‘surveyors’ had seen the cellar, the non dry floor and the drainage point are we covered? At the time there was no ground water coming over the drain lip though 

davidmcn

haylsmomof3 said:

Unicorn_cottage said:

You say 3 surveyors have viewed the cellar does that mean they have had 3 surveys done?

As 3 ‘surveyors’ had seen the cellar, the non dry floor and the drainage point are we covered?

What do you mean by "covered"? We've already told you that you don't need to declare anything.