rising damp dilemma in home buyers survey

[Parkingt111]

we had a level 2 buyers survey done today on a house we are hoping to purchase. we will get the full report next week but the surveyor rang to say their is rising damp in most of the rooms. so I asked If he had taken pictures as we didn't see anything when we went to the house. He said he didnt see any visible signs or water marks but it was detected by the damp meter. I found it strange that he said it's in almost the whole house but no visible signs he could photograph
as a first time buyer I'm ofcourse worried but waiting for the full report.
have any of you encountered this before? or any advice thanks in advance

How old is the house?
Is it occupied/heated?
Does it have a damp proof course?

If it's newish, don't buy. If it's very old it's probably fine so long as you don't try to fix it.

I can go into more detail but it really depends on how the house was built (hence asking age) whether it's a problem.

@XrayFish it was built in the 1950's yes currently occupied by a family and heated
it's a 3 bed semi so just a normal sized house

I wouldn’t proceed until you’ve spoken to the surveyor and a damp specialist. While it’s a bargaining tool on the price ( you’d want it reduced by the cost of putting it right) it depends on what has been affected by the damp and the cost/ mess of having it rectified.
Personally, I’d look at other houses.

If it's very old it's probably fine so long as you don't try to fix it

This. And don’t trust anyone who talks about “rising” damp. The experts say there’s no such thing.

@pigletjohn

Okay, I admit I don't know much about 50s houses.

I agree that there's no such thing as rising damp as it's normally claimed. But that still leaves unexplained damp which I'd still want an answer to. Did the house look recently decorated? I'd be thinking about whether the damp isn't visible or whether it's been covered up.

The report won't tell you the cause (and I'd question it if it claims to). Definitely get a second opinion but it could require a level of invasiveness that the sellers may not agree to.

Several things can appear to cause rising damp (but which aren't). Here are a couple I've heard of although I've no direct experience so I won't vouch for them.

• Cavity wall insulation apparently needs to be appropriate to the property (and there are different types). A lot of companies offering it aren't that discerning. But it can theoretically be removed/replaced (or at least some types can).
• If there is a damp proof course it needs to be around the whole property, you shouldn't half damp proof something it just moves the problem (which may or may not have been a problem to start with).
• Neighbours doing something to their house could affect the property (although mostly on the adjoining walls).

We had this exact situation as first time buyers. Paid a few hundred pounds to have a specialist damp survey, and used that to knock £5,000 off the price. I’m pleased we did as the damp problem was actually terrible, and our sellers had just had everything replastered and decorated to cover it while selling. It was getting so bad it was ending up with plug sockets with water in.

I wouldn’t say it was a deal breaker for me. But I would expect money off the house to fix the issue.

Rising damp is a load of bollocks. Do you see the houses of Venice suffering rising damp? Answer: no. Those damp meters are not used correctly most of the time -they are calibrated for use on wood not plaster. I'd be hugely suspicious about a survey saying there is damp if the walls look bone dry. Plus the advice is usually to get a damp survey for 'free' from a damp repair company who will obviously tell you there is remedial work to be done.

Most damp is caused by leaks or faulty drainpipes/guttering.

www.heritage-house.org/damp-and-condensation/the-fraud-of-rising-damp.html

So if you saw nothing on the walls I'd take the damp with a huge pinch of salt.

thank you for all your replies. as we are first time buyers it is all abit overwhelming I just found it strange that he was not able to photograph any of the damp it's just going by the damp meter, maybe there will be more information when we get the full report. Also no the house has not been recently painted or decorated from what we could see

@Kfjsjdbd hi thanks for your response. do you mind if I ask what you did to fix the issue and approximately how much did it cost you?

Hi OP. No probs.

We ended up spending about £500 on plumbers trying to find the route cause. Realistically the floor needed to come up to work out what was going on (suspected under floor heating pipe leak), which would have realistically cost around £5k ish to pull up the floor, investigate and put back down. But we just sold the house (to people who didn’t get a survey. Absolutely crazy). Friends have just had a quote of £5k for a whole new damp course to try and fix the problem.

A specialist damp surveyor can advise you of rough costs to fix it. And then I would suggest you share that info with the sellers and ask for a discount on the house value. It could be something really easily fixed.

If it’s not recently been painted then honestly I think it’s fine. Did it smell of damp at all?

@Kfjsjdbd no it did not smell either
I have been looking at the pictures again on the online listing and I cant spot any signs. I'm hoping the survey has more detail.

If rising damp were a thing, we'd not have any bridges over rivers