Help! Bad survey - damp, movement and a potentially evil tree Post Reply

[ZNW]

Nappy Valley I need your help! We just got the building survey that had a lot of red flags, the most major were rising damp (he recommends having the walls stripped and floors lifted), movement (recommends a structural engineer) and a tree owned by the council that might be causing the movement.

Has anyone had that in the survey before? Can you recommend a structural engineer and a builder that can do the damp work?

[Kyoung78]

Is this for a house you want to buy? If you haven't exchanged contracts I would be tempted to walk away and keep looking. I had a similar scenario when I was buying my first flat and although I loved the location and the flat the structural problems would have made it hard to sell on (I later found out that it had been under offer quite a few times before I saw it). I walked away after much thought and in the end found a much better flat that we sold on very easily when we outgrew it.

[ZNW]

Yes we are buyers - really good position in that we sold our flat and are renting, so we can wait. Will see if you can get quotes and see if the sums add up and the seller can discount, otherwise sadely will have to walk away too.

[parsleysong]

Not knowing the actual facts but if a survey red-flagged structural defects I would probably walk away. Damp and other issues can be sorted (expensively) but once you get a report of subsidence on the record you will find it much harder to sell in the future. Even when the subsidence problem is fixed many people will run a mile!

Also, rising damp isn't sorted out by redecorating and lifting floors (I stand to be corrected though). Sounds like there isn't an effective damp proof course, which will be expensive and complicated to fix. Is it an old house with low foundations?

[Mum2Monkey]

Our survey flagged up damp. Damp and Timberguard gave us a quote, the sellers knocked this off the price and we proceeded. You could try them for a quote.

I have not dealt with movement, but my understanding is that it is caused by tree or something similar then once that it is dealt with then all is ok. But if movement due to subsidence then that's a problem as you can't get insurance very easily going forwards.

[ZNW]

It's a Victorian terraced in Tooting Bec - looking at the report it talks about signs of movement due to cracks. I think the damp is solvable if they take the costs off but as most of you say, the movement is concerning. Thanks all for your advice!!!!!!!

[ricochernandez]

Hi there,

Damp can usually be rectified it just depends on how much you are willing to spend to rectify it and whether you’re happy to put up with the disruption caused by the remedial works.

I would ask your surveyor if he thinks it will get worse (or get an engineer) and I’d also keep in mind that if it’s related to subsidence then getting insurance for your property will be more challenging and if you plan on selling it in the future then another surveyor will more than likely spot it and your property could be more difficult to sell.

We recently came across a similar issue on a Victorian property we surveyed in Leyton and the buyer stepped away but it depends on your risk tolerance.

I hope that helps.