Need help! The flat I've offered on has damp!

SimPaul

I'm a FTB whose had an offer of £382k accepted on an asking price of £400k in London.

All going well, until I get the housebuyers report back which indicates some damp by the front door of the (basement) flat.

An 'independant' damp specialist went to inspect the property and said it would cost £1,000 + VAT to treat the damp near the front door, and that he had detected some damp behind a wall and would need to take down the plaster (cost £100 ish) and then quote further from there (could be something, could be nothing).

In the meantime, I've had another 'independant' specialist take a look at it. He says every external wall has a damp problem, cost of treatment £2,500 + VAT. He did NOT, however, find damp in the wall that the first guy did!

The 2nd report also says the stairs leading down to the flat need to be redone (approx £1,000) and then on top of that the adjacent timberwork would need to be evaluated!

Does anyone have any advice? The estate agent says damp is common in all Victorian basement flats in London (a shoddy response I thought). I love the flat but all this is putting me off! I don't want to buy somewhere that needs loads of expensive work doing!

Doozergirl

I think you should probably ask the vendor to make allowances for the work required, but to be honest, I'd live in th ehouse and see if you think there is a genuine problem.

Old houses do give higher damp readings but it doesn't necessarily mean that they have a damp problem. In my view, a damp problem is something you can see or smell, not a high reading from a machine or the fact that someone selling you a product says you do. Simple double glazing can trap moisture within the house, you need ventilation. Drying washing indoors will give higher readings!

We had a Victorian basement flat in London and were told we had a damp problem, had to strip off the plaster, damp proof course etc. someone else said it was condensation and we needed a machine to circulate air around the house... when we moved in, there was mould appearing behind the heavy curtains in the living room. I was talking to a black cab driver about it and he asked if we had a fireplace. It had been blocked. He suggested that we reinstated the fireplace to bring air back into the property. The problem went away as soon as we did that and the money we spent was on something that we liked and wanted!

I'd wait and see.

sooz

As it's a flat, it's fairly likely that any damp problems would be seen as a communal issue, one that all the flats would have to contribute towards, rather than just one leaseholder. Ditto the stairs. Get your solicitor to check the wording of the lease.

vetfred

Many surveys on Victorian properties will come back saying you need to do timber and damp surveys. Most of the Victorian properties I've viewed have shown visible "damp" whether in the finished basements or at higher levels and much of the time it was pretty obvious that there was inadequate ventilation in the house which is one of the major factors to consider as doozergirl said. There are plenty of other reasons but this is an easy one put right if it is the cause.

It's very easy to be put off when you see "damp problem" on a report but I would reckon a large percentage of old houses do come back with some sort of damp issue but it doesn't deter most sales from going through unless it is a problem so bad, it would be daft to proceed.

If the reports didn't state the cause of the damp, then they're pretty useless imho. The report should be more like "our damp meter showed a high reading in the area around the door and on further inspection the pointing over and around the door seems to be the reason for the ingress of water into the property. The cost to remedy this is £x" (Don't worry, I'm no surveyor so don't take it too literally but you get the idea!). You need a specific cause or their idea as to what is causing a problem in order to deal with it. If there is a specific problem then get quotes to remedy it from others too (if it is up to you to remedy).

SimPaul

vetfred wrote: »

Many surveys on Victorian properties will come back saying you need to do timber and damp surveys. Most of the Victorian properties I've viewed have shown visible "damp" whether in the finished basements or at higher levels and much of the time it was pretty obvious that there was inadequate ventilation in the house which is one of the major factors to consider as doozergirl said. There are plenty of other reasons but this is an easy one put right if it is the cause.

It's very easy to be put off when you see "damp problem" on a report but I would reckon a large percentage of old houses do come back with some sort of damp issue but it doesn't deter most sales from going through unless it is a problem so bad, it would be daft to proceed.

If the reports didn't state the cause of the damp, then they're pretty useless imho. The report should be more like "our damp meter showed a high reading in the area around the door and on further inspection the pointing over and around the door seems to be the reason for the ingress of water into the property. The cost to remedy this is £x" (Don't worry, I'm no surveyor so don't take it too literally but you get the idea!). You need a specific cause or their idea as to what is causing a problem in order to deal with it. If there is a specific problem then get quotes to remedy it from others too (if it is up to you to remedy).

Well it appears a lot of the cause is a leak in the stairs leading down to the flat (hence the need for the new asphalt)...no idea how much that would cost but I'm estimating about £1,000.

There was no visible damp in the flat (a good sign as it hadn't been decorated in a while) but with drywall paster you wouldn't see it anyway....argh the confusion!

worriedfirsttimebuyer

Our survey showed up high readings of damp on an outside wall - we bought the house regardless, stripped the walls, skimmed them, painted and nevr gave the so-called damp a second thought, can't feel or smell it anywhere.
Every old house has damp surely.

A FTB wth £382k to spend....jeez, London is another world....

chappers

I would consider adjusting your offer accordingly, then see how bad the situation is when you move in. Its not very often you get adamp "specialist" in and they don't find anything.

tbs624

SimPaul - have a look here on the subject of damp and independent surveyors:

http://www.askjeff.co.uk/content.php?id=3

This man, Jeff Howell, (a regular newspaper columnist who has a construction industry background ) writes with such common sense on many property-related issues. I thoroughly recommend his books and, no, I am not on commission.

I view property surveys as a bit like school reports - some parts may be cause for concern, some are really helpful, some can be taken with a pinch of salt, and with some bits you need to read between the lines.

It's always worrying as a FTB, especially with such a sizeable investment, but the surveyor is covering his own back. He *has* to mention all findings and then let you make the choice on how you deal with it from there. Some of the problems will be ones that are standard niggles on a property of that age and type (many of which can be easily corrected) and others are ones that you can live with or deal with at later date.You're paying the surveyor so make him work for his money and ask for further clarification, and/or use Jeff Howell's info to find a truly independent damp specialist

Depends on the market and the vendor's situation whether you'll get a reduction, especially as you've already offered under the asking price, but its always worth a try once you've gathered the necessary information.

Good luck with your purchase ( and yes, some Estate Agents do treat purchasers -sometimes vendors too- in a shoddy fashion)

SimPaul

tbs624 wrote: »

SimPaul - have a look here on the subject of damp and independent surveyors:

http://www.askjeff.co.uk/content.php?id=3

This man, Jeff Howell, (a regular newspaper columnist who has a construction industry background ) writes with such common sense on many property-related issues. I thoroughly recommend his books and, no, I am not on commission.

I view property surveys as a bit like school reports - some parts may be cause for concern, some are really helpful, some can be taken with a pinch of salt, and with some bits you need to read between the lines.

It's always worrying as a FTB, especially with such a sizeable investment, but the surveyor is covering his own back. He *has* to mention all findings and then let you make the choice on how you deal with it from there. Some of the problems will be ones that are standard niggles on a property of that age and type (many of which can be easily corrected) and others are ones that you can live with or deal with at later date.You're paying the surveyor so make him work for his money and ask for further clarification, and/or use Jeff Howell's info to find a truly independent damp specialist

Depends on the market and the vendor's situation whether you'll get a reduction, especially as you've already offered under the asking price, but its always worth a try once you've gathered the necessary information.

Good luck with your purchase ( and yes, some Estate Agents do treat purchasers -sometimes vendors too- in a shoddy fashion)

Thanks for that, very useful.

It's amazing how hard it is to get an answer that I can trust from these people! :eek:

halia

I'd agree with the other posters, I've lived in Victorian houses and so have most of my friends for 12 years now and they all get flagged up as having 'damp' problems on surveys.

One house did feel damp - but neither of the causes were anything to do with the DPC. One was a leaking roofline and the other was condensation on old windows, instlaling double glazing, central heating and opening up the fireplaces again made a huge difference.

I am so glad I ignored the survery on that house, they would have had me spend over £2,000 on a new DPC+redecorating when actually the damp feel and mould on walls was nowt to do with that.

btw it still has high moisture readings in the walls but it hasn't felt damp for 5 years, and there's no mould/damp stains on the walls either.