Investigated survey issues-how to renegotiate

Loulibell

stuart45 said:

The odds are that a 1930's house will have a DPC. It's possible there may be some damp areas, although if there are no signs of damp it could be a false reading from the meter. It could also be condensation.
Woodworm could be an old attack. 
Get some estimates for the work and see if you can renegotiate the price if you think there is a chance of a reduction.

Just re read the original home buyer survey I had done. It says ‘The horizontal DPC to the base of the original house appears to be bituminous felt and the extension is PVC’ 
so that says there is one, on the damp report it says ‘none visible’ 🤯

canaldumidi

Who spotted the woodworm? Who /how spotted the damp?

So is the woodworm 'active' or 'historic'? It's common for beetle to chew on  fresh or damp wood and often happens in the early years of an old property eg back in the 30s. The holes they make would remain.... for ever, suggestibg 'a woodworm problem' when in reality the wood has long since dried out and become totally inedible to the beetle.

In such cases, treatment is pointless. Treatment is only needd if there is active woodworm. As with the damp companies, woodworm treatment companies will send round a salesman, pount to the holes, and advise treatment...... and even surveyors will often fail todistinguish between active and historic, so if this was in the survey, ring the surveyor and press him for more specific information.

Clearly you now know there IS a dpc. The damp salesman said 'none visible' which is a mealy-mouthed way of saying "best employ us to install one (even though we really know there is one there already".

So that just leaves the damp - tested with a dampmeter? Or was there a clear smell of damp? Peeling wallpaper/paint? Damp patches on the walls?

If there genuinely is damp, then you need someone independant to identify the cause, and then get costs to fix that, not installation of a dpc which already exists.....

Richiem1987

As said, the other issues sounds like all a money making exercise and the Surveyor just covering his back. Check the property yourself for vislble damp if you can. If you do find evidence, get a proper damp surveyor in to get to the source of the issue. Tip with wood worm, especially in the loft, as if it was recent, you would find dead bugs, so check this out yourself. You can get them treated anyway. 

It is a sellers market, so they may not be willing to accept a revised offer. 

youth_leader

So glad you've found you do have a DPC now, it should be visible a few bricks up from the ground.  I hope you can go back for a second viewing and see where the visible damp is inside.  Check behind the sofas etc.

Can I please ask those of you in the know, how do you know if a damp/timber surveyor is independent?  I was advised to contact a PCA company which turned out to be a sales company when my buyer wanted one, the buyer's mortgage company threw it out as completely inappropriate.  I paid £300 for the survey too, so wasn't free.

dimbo61

So please check carefully the house photos ? 
Did you see extension leads with extra sockets.
It can be often the case that a bedroom only has one double socket and several extension leads run off the one plug.
In an old house I would have the whole house rewired to modern standards.
You can't rent without a EICR 
I know your buying but if in the future you want to rent it out !
3/4 double sockets in every bedroom.
10/12 in the kitchen

4/6 in lounge and dining room

PS full rewire £4/5,000 and complete replaster, new decoration of the house.
Big job and £10,000+ 

For a FTB I hope you have deep pockets

shiraz99

Loulibell said:

Slithery said:

Loulibell said:
The survey was done by a company that does in fact do the treatments and DPC. 

So just a salesman touting for business with no regard for whether or not the work actually needs doing then. I suggest you read...
https://www.heritage-house.org/damp-and-condensation/the-fraud-of-rising-damp.html

Oh wow now I’m even more confused 😂 
in all honesty, I couldn’t find a company that did them independently, which may well prove your point. 

House surveys insisting you have a damp problem are one of the biggest scams going.

Loulibell

youth_leader said:

So glad you've found you do have a DPC now, it should be visible a few bricks up from the ground.  I hope you can go back for a second viewing and see where the visible damp is inside.  Check behind the sofas etc.

Can I please ask those of you in the know, how do you know if a damp/timber surveyor is independent?  I was advised to contact a PCA company which turned out to be a sales company when my buyer wanted one, the buyer's mortgage company threw it out as completely inappropriate.  I paid £300 for the survey too, so wasn't free.

The house really seemed fine. But we weren’t sure after the survey if they’ve decorated recently and that’s why. Though we viewed it 4 months after it had been on the market so I’d assume the smell of ‘fresh decorating’ would have disappeared. I paid £60 for mine, the mortgage provider didn’t request us to do anything, and did an online valuation at 20k less than our offer price. We are putting a big deposit down though, this is my only worry. That it could be a bad investment.

Loulibell

shiraz99 said:

House surveys insisting you have a damp problem are one of the biggest scams going.

So I’m over catastrophising you think? 

Genuine question, don’t want that to sound bitchy 

Loulibell

dimbo61 said:

So please check carefully the house photos ? 
Did you see extension leads with extra sockets.
It can be often the case that a bedroom only has one double socket and several extension leads run off the one plug.
In an old house I would have the whole house rewired to modern standards.
You can't rent without a EICR 
I know your buying but if in the future you want to rent it out !
3/4 double sockets in every bedroom.
10/12 in the kitchen

4/6 in lounge and dining room

PS full rewire £4/5,000 and complete replaster, new decoration of the house.
Big job and £10,000+ 

For a FTB I hope you have deep pockets

You can’t see from the photos. And I don’t remember seeing any really that stood out to us when we’ve viewed it. 

The idea of renting anything to anyone absolutely fills me with dread, so that’s out of the question. The intention of this house is to be our new home. I’ve inherited a house which is my childhood home, but I’m fed up of the area and want out because the house has too many issues. Subsequently, we’re in a good financial position for repairs, but preferably I’d want this reflecting in what we’re paying for it, as the offer we made was based on its ‘move-in condition’. And then I’m in a quandary like if it’s having a rewire and plastering, why not have the DPC cause of the upheaval anyway 😂 

Slithery

youth_leader said:

Can I please ask those of you in the know, how do you know if a damp/timber surveyor is independent?  I was advised to contact a PCA company which turned out to be a sales company when my buyer wanted one, the buyer's mortgage company threw it out as completely inappropriate.  I paid £300 for the survey too, so wasn't free.

None of the companies associated with the PCA are independent - avoid all of them.
Just doing a web search for 'independent damp survey' should bring up some local results.
Major tell-tale signs of non-independents are that the survey will be free and their company also offers the 'recommended treatment' as one of their services.
Independent surveyors don't sell fixes they just sell you their expertise - just as building surveyors don't do building work.