Buying a house with significant black moulds on walls

That's what you get a survey for. Then get a damp specialist out to investigate and give you a quote for the work. Then ask for the offer to be reduced to cover the costs of the work that needs doing.

Yeah was auto correct. They are envirovents it’s a company called envirovents they have various types , the ones I got go in the walls and they constantly suck the moisture out of the building, after I had them put in I had no more mould at all. They were ace.

Then found out about environments and got those what does this mean please @stargazerlil

I’m interested in your comment as you seem to have found a good solution, but what are “environments” - or is that an autocorrect?

No one is allowed to mention lifestyle issues now about black mould, you'll get accusations of victim blaming. But the reality is, the way you run a house and maintain a home affects whether you get condensation and later mould. My partner works in housing for a local government and sees many an awful site but no one is allowed to say to tenants they need to do something different, they just get moved.

I woujldnt discount it immediately if you like the house and the area

You need to know whether its guttering or roof, is it that the wrong insulation has been put in (NEVER get cavity wall insulation in my view), is it something systemic in the build of the house etc etc

Once you know this, you'll know whether the remedy is within your reach. What about neighbours, do they have similar problems, knock on doors on either side and ask

I notice that one of the worst pictures has had a piece of furniture up against the wall in the corner against an outside wall, that wont have helped at all

In terms of conservatorys on north facing houses, we have one, love it, use it all year round. We have an oil filled radiator out there, its warm in there within 15 mins in the winter.

Interesting to see this one, which looks fine basically, whether or not you like the decor. The conservatory is a much better construction which could be making a difference on its own.

There are many reasons why the damp could have got so bad, but that don't necessarily mean there's anything terribly wrong with the house.

We have had so much rain this last last year, the house has been shut up and empty for a while, with little or no ventilation.

I certainly wouldn't rule it out if you can get it for a bargain price, but you need to find out what's really going on.

That's a good idea. However, I am a landlord and I know that the way people live (or don't live) in a property has a big impact of whether or not there is black mould. I lived in a property with no black mould. My first tenant lived in it for years with none. My second tenant had black mould after one winter. She was barely heating the property and drying lots of clothes indoors. She also had turtles in a tank causing condensation issues. It makes a difference. I would talk to people living in the same type of build in the street to see what their experiences are.

I wouldn't touch this house.
The conservatory is poorly constructed and looks like there is a damp issue where is joins the main house. The water from the downpipe runs onto the path.
There's damp/something wrong on the gable wall by the side gate.
There is rainwater splashing up from the paving slabs around the base of the house causing algae and possibly penetrating damp. Next door also seems to have the same problem.
Has a radiator been removed in one of the ground floor rooms? Did it cause a flood? This could have led to excess moisture inside the house which has exacerbated the mould growth when the house had been shut up with no ventilation.
The gutters could be blocked and may be inadequate to cope with runoff for that size of roof. Have a drive-by when it's raining and see if they are running over.
I am curious as to why there is so much damp in the interior walls and wondering if the cavity walls have failed, ties have gone, or cavity wall insulation has been applied badly. Worrying in. property that's not very old.
Lots of things to contemplate and this is a worse case senario. Plus we can't tell much from the photos, so you need an experienced surveyor and a friendly builder who you can trust to do a survey.
The kitchen needs totally replacing. Not sure if your budget is enough if a lot of remedial work is required.
You may have problems with insuring the property.

Living with damp is miserable! It can seriously affect your health as a PP has pointed out. It destroys everything - books, clothes, paperwork, furniture, decoration. It can cause chronic asthma and severe illnesses.

So it's a no from me.

Remedying damp really isn't that difficult. I wouldn't have any issue tackling it, but I have lived in period properties all my life.

Firstly, the house looks like it's been sitting empty – mould will more likely form because it has been sitting cold, unheated and unventilated. Easily remedied.

The areas you highlight all look to be external walls. These are cold spots – again, problematic when the house has been sitting empty. The previous owners may have also had furniture sitting too close to the walls in those areas. Cold walls + lack of ventilation due to furniture placements means condensation settles in these areas and forms mould. Again, easily remedied.

If not the above, the damp/mould is almost always caused by drains, gutters, roof or external floor levels. None of which are costly to fix.

You will not need a new roof on a property of this age. A roof repair is sufficient if it has any missing tiles. And you absolutely will not need any kind of damp proof injections.

Get the work costed by a good surveyor and knock it off your offer. Good luck!

Having read the whole thread more carefully I'm changing my vote. Don't even think about buying it! I've only had to deal with small amounts of mould and they were manageable, but clearly the problem gets exponentially worse as it increases. That family who actually took the mould with them when they moved- urgh.

Mould is a fucking nightmare! We moved into a 4 bed 1930s bungalow last year and in winter it became apparent there was a bad mould problem in the 2 back bedrooms (ours and my youngest). Also in the larder. One of our walls always gets wet when it rains but our landlord "can't find a problem " and they just paint on this treatment every now and then. We have had to resort to buying 2 dehumidifiers (one small one for the larder and individual bedrooms on a rota) and a big one that sits in the hallway. If I'd have know about the mould I wouldn't have moved here

If you love the house and can accept you may lose the money spent on a thorough survey, it's worth making an offer and getting the survey done. You will be able to reduce the offer further if necessary.
The house may need a new roof as well as work done on ventilation. All very expensive, but the vendor is likely getting desperate because the building will just keep deteriorating the longer it's empty, and at some point may be glad to accept almost any offer.
Also it's worth talking to other people on that estate if you can, and seeing what problems if any they have had with damp, and how they dealt with them.
Good luck.

could be as easy as replacing down pipe and cleaning gutter & heating and airing.

could mean major building works necessary.

get a survey.

would not be hard no from me (our house has a leaking chimney that caused mould but was easy to rectify)

I would look at the down pipes. The bottom of the side gate is rotting in the lead picture - check the pipe.

Personally no, I wouldn’t touch it. The area looks wet (yes a wet day but also, just doesn’t look sunny and clement). The mould is ridiculous and it can take up to 2 years to fully dry out a wet wall: I don’t think this is mould from lack of adequate heating and ventilation.

You will end up spending the same amount on it as others are currently going for without the added worries of mould returning. Also, it could be a nightmare to sell on if prospective buyers don the pics online and you’ve not declared the historic issue (still not appealing if declared).

I would save yourself heartache and health issues

Nearly £4000 per square metre seems quite high for a property in this condition in this area. However, I think the house could be made into a very comfortable family home for under £100k. Make a lower offer, but be prepared for the owners/agents to say that allowance has already been made for the condition of the property. There is no harm in trying. The EPC is nearly a C, so not that bad. I assume a lot of the issues have come from lack of ventilation and humidity/cold. These can be resolved pretty easily. I would not be put off by it if I knew I would be getting a good house at the end of it.

My house has minor black mould problems, mostly sorted. But it is essentially a cold house and even after many years of remedies I have to air clothes from the wardrobe before wearing them. Thankfully moving soon

It's hard to tell from the photos, are these upstairs rooms with mould?

Get someone out to have a look at it and if its fixable put in a cheeky offer if it has been empty a while.

You would also need to change the room of the conservatory as it will be cold

Can you go past when it's raining preferably heavily and see if the gutters or downpipes are leaking/overflowing? But the damp looks widespread so it could just be bad practise when it was built so a fundamental problem. It looks worse upstairs than down so probably not rising damp. And if it's been like that for a while there could be dry rot and wet rot in some, a lot or all of the wood, floors, joists roof beams.

You definitely need a good damp survey from a proper company with good insurance if they get it wrong. None of this, we didn't look under the carpets or in the roof, etc. With suggested costed remedial action. It could be something simple but the downside is huge.

I agree. From those photos it looks like all the upstairs room have mould.

You may struggle to get a mortagage on it.

I’m paying £500 to get a small patch of damp sorted in my porch. I would hate to think how much that would cost to sort out.

I'd it's been empty for a few years then I actually think it's in surprisingly good nick.
Easy enough to redo the walls/ ceilings, rip out carpets. Fog the place to remove mould spores etc. I'd only do it if you have somewhere else to live whilst sorting it out though.
I'd be surprised if there was a big issue such as the roof as it would be in much worse condition.

The back of our house faces north west, we get mould and it's a fucking pain. The back of the house never gets light, well the windows don't I should say and that's where we get the mould, it's a constant pain for us, even slugs find their way in to eat the mould. I wouldn't do it.