Damp Survey Question

Good luck Alverstone25, I hope it was just their tumble drier and a lack of ventilation. The water has to go somewhere! I've just used the dehumidifier here in the spare room with the washing, I bought it in almost line dry - it's collected 10L.

When are you exchanging? I hope you can have a second viewing, do ask lots of questions.

When I found out about the floors here nine months after completion, I did text the vendor for the history of the floors. We had exchanged numbers as I'd invited her to stay here if she visited the area! I do wish I'd asked at my viewing, as a seller it would have been something I'd have told my viewers. She said she had left me the floor survey details - she hadn't, only the worthless timber guarantee. I think she knew the company had gone bust.

Our surveyor found there was damp coming from the flat upstairs. The other flat owner immediately paid to have the problem sorted. We were very happy with the outcome.

Alverstone have you already Exchanged Contracts?

If so then there is nothing you can do if they refuse to negotiate with you.

Surveys are usually done before any legal stuff is sorted.

Thanks for all the replies and personal experiences, I’ve learned something. I’m expecting the survey report back by Wednesday and will have to act on it immediately… the agreed completion date for all parties is the 11th November so am keeping everything crossed that it will be a minor issue.

There is no legal requirement for an owner to do anything to their house either while they live there, nor when they sell.
Tthe potential buyer gets a survey done and if there are any problems, they can either back out of the sale or lower the price they are prepared to pay for the house.

We are serial house renovators so almost every house we have bought has had some kind of problem. In every case, after survey we have variously, backed out of the sale, in one case, and negotiated e reduction in the price in the other cases.

Personally I cannot be bothered with the hassle of negotiating with the current owner as to who will pay for what remedication. I would prefer just to make a lower offer and make sure I suoervise any necessary repairs myself.

In our current house we reduced our offer because we discovered the ceiling of the integral garage was asbestos.

When I was selling, my buyer was advised to have a damp/timber survey and I was persuaded to pay for it as a gesture of goodwill, £300. My EA insisted I contact Peter Cox, who are a PCA member - they are a sales company and don't address the problem, just sell dp courses etc. His mortgage company threw the survey out as inappropriate.

Try and find a completely independent damp surveyor, who will find the source of the problem.

The owners may agree to give you a discount for the work needed following your investigation, but may ask for evidence. Sharing an extract of the report would be advised.

I didn't have a damp/timber survey on this bungalow much to my huge regret, and had to have all of the floors replaced recently, all completely rotten. Surveyors cannot lift carpets or move furniture, unfortunately.

I only found out because I had a curtain fitter here, who walked right into the bay and refused to continue as the floor made such a terrible cracking noise. Upon investigation front bedroom was floorboards with wet/dry rot and woodworm, the rest of the flooring was black mould covered plasterboard. The vendor had not revealed the fact she'd had all the floors replaced in 2016, when I moved in I received a worthless 25 year timber guarantee. The company had dissolved in 2018. When the floors were replaced the men said it had been a cowboy job, attaching a repair to woodwormed joists, and the new chipboard flooring had been put onto untannelised joists which as untreated, rotted. The job cost £11K, plus my removal costs for my furniture etc.

The back of the bungalow has been extended with a concrete floor, which isn't ventilated. I am considering having a positive ventilation unit in the loft as condensation is a problem here, both chimneys have been capped. I do leave all windows cracked open, locked.

Good luck finding an independent surveyor, I hope he can access the sub void in the whole of the bungalow.

No vendor is going to pay for expensive work to be done.
They have no guarantee that you will proceed with the sale.
This is where negotiating starts.

The vendor is not liable, check to see if the conservatory came with any guarantees.
Some of the larger companies do put a 10 year guarantee on their work.

I don’t know the legal position, but I suppose it depends on the seriousness of the damp in the survey report and what the cost would be to rectify it, so I’d wait for that first. Should it be so serious to render the property unsaleable, it might have to be withdrawn from the market, while the vendors assess their position.
On a lighter note, I’ve heard of people just walking away from the sale if it’s serious, others have reduced the offer price to take into account the cost of the necessary work. When we sold MiL’s house and it threw up an ‘electric’ problem, we knocked half the cost of the work from the agreed sale price. I think your son is right though - it’s a case of buyer beware. Hope you can come to some agreement with the vendors though, if it’s where and what you really want.

I would assume that you will negotiate the price you are prepared to pay if work needs to be done.
That was my experience when we were selling a house several years ago.