To sell my house with a known damp problem?

[Tulip89]

I want to sell my house as we’ve outgrown it and want to extend our family but we’re only in a 2 bedroom and already have 1 DC and both work from home so it’s already feeling cramped. I’m also 38 so I don’t want to leave it much longer to have a second baby. Ideally, I don’t want to be pregnant at the same time as selling our house/moving so would like to sell up sooner rather than later so that we can then have another baby.

Our house is lovely and we’ve done lots of work on it but unfortunately a damp problem arose after decorating. We’ve had a specialist damp survey so know the source of the problem (penetrating damp from roof and exterior render needing to be replaced) but it will be costly and time consuming to fix. This would obviously delay moving and eat into our budget to move.

If we provide detail of what work needs to be done and get a quote for the work, are we unreasonable to proceed with selling or should we do the work first and delay moving by 6 months or so? Would it put you off buying?

We’re in a desirable area and no other work NEEDS to be done on the house.

Why would it take 6 months to sort?

As it's very likely to be a first time buyer looking for a 'starter' home, things like can freak out a a less experiences buyer. What we did was get three quotes from reputable firms and use the average to price house accordingly. These quotes were shared with the buyer. That way, it's already factored into the price. Without this or just based on a verbal estimate, buyers will make an offer, get a survey and the surveyor being risk averse will come up with a eye watering estimate to cover their backs. Then they will either be freaked out and pull out or want a big discount before exchange. Best thing we did as it put everyone's mind at rest. No one could argue at the facts and buyers appreciated the honesty. Hope it all goes well!

I bought first house in 1990 and it was in place then

issue is that some scamming home owners fill it in without thought that it is a legal document and lie through their teeth

see my link to a site with details on this

Not what you've asked, but at 38 I would have the baby first and then move. Fertility can decline quite quickly at that stage.

Whatever the cost of the repair double or triple it and take it off the price - you’re willing to take that hit go ahead.
Penetrating damp is the easiest to solve. I would get it done.

Rendering is not a big problem to fix. The roof on the other hand.....

Yanbu but don't be surprised if you are asked to drop the asking price by the amount the works will cost.
Whether or how you negotiate on that is obviously up to you.
Edit for typo

Like others have said sell it but you need to price it with the works in mind (and then also costs for putting right any cosmetic work afterwards and uncertainty/ inconvenience ). You also should disclose it with the buyers and their surveyors.

I know you’re not planning to not disclose it from your post - but others have suggested not disclosing it- here’s what happened to me in a similar situation:

the sellers of my house didn’t disclose a damp issue, and they also interfered with the specialist survey I commissioned and obstructed areas without my knowledge so the survey didn’t pick it up. The seller (older gentleman moving in with kids) died shortly after I bought the house so I can’t take legal action now. It’s cost us £1000’s to put right and was money we didn’t have to spend after just buying the house. the whole experience has made me hate the house as it was such stressful time.If I had known in advance and the price of the house was reduced accordingly it wouldn’t have been as much as a shock and I wouldn’t have had all the emotional distress and financial issues that I’ve had.

Whilst you can hide issues with your house it’s really unethical and you are basically preventing the buyers from making an informed decision on their financial future- they might not be able to afford to fix the works. Your home also sounds like it might be a house that a first time buyer might buy - they are unlikely to have the money to pay for expensive damp works if you don’t reduce the price.

I think it might be quicker to do the work to sell at best price, than find a buyer who is willing to take it on, argue whatever off the price, etc. As a buyer I might walk away; before getting a survey done of my own when you're upfront about your own survey findings, after the detail of it being laid out in my survey, or after getting people in to quote after my survey and I find out it costs more than the money you've taken off/will take months to get a tradespeople to do the work/I meanwhile find another property without the issue and decide to buy that one instead. If you can, I'd just fix the problem now.

That sounds awful! Im so sorry. Was there any comeback on the surveyor?

I’d have the work done before selling, what you’ll lose on the price compared to paying for the work will be massive.

Many years ago I paid 93,000 per house with similar problems others in the area we’re going for 120,000 without the problems. That’s the kind of drop you should be expecting. It cost £6000 to put it right. Do the Work now.

My friend sold her house with a knoen damp problem and just knocked it off the asking price. No problem in selling it.

You're right but, alas, the only option is for the buyer to sue, which requires them to have the money, time and energy to do so. I imagine most people don't have the funds to sue after all the expense that comes with buying a property, not to mention the cost of the property itself.

I'd sell now, OP. You've got the report from the specialist surveyor and quotes for repairs. As long as you're honest and price the property accordingly, I don't see why this issue alone should put you off selling. (It wouldn't put me off buying, by the way, as long as I was comfortable I had the money for the repairs and the property was priced to take this into account. Although, that being said, if there are a lot of similar properties for sale that don't have issues, I'd choose one without an issue.)

Why should a buyer have to pay for a survey to tell them something that the buyer is well aware of. Hundreds of pounds for a survey. I pulled out of an offer after finding a significant damp problem in a house I was looking to buy. The seller was well aware of it and was just hoping I’d be naive enough to not have a full structural survey. It’s incredibly immoral to hide something like this from a buyer.

I wouldn’t buy a house with a known damp problem, it would need to be addressed before anyone moves in and who wants to wait months for that and go through the hassle of having to ensure there’s no mould growth from it? Black mould can be deadly.

You can - we bought a house with some obvious damp in the hall, a leaking flat roof and quite a bit of water damage to a third room from a leak. It was priced accordingly and we knew we would be renovating.

If you're not that well off though I'd guess you would save money doing it yourself unless it's an extremely desirable area.

More issues always arise when you start doing work on a house so be prepared for that.

We worked on our loft room, which led to leak discovery in the bathroom and a leak from the washing machine lead to damp identification in the kitchen. Replaced the bathroom and the kitchen which lead to discovery our electrics needed earthing and redoing as well as our stairs are giving out so now need to replace those too.

And when we had the gutters cleaned we identified a hole in the roof and quoting for that identified a bigger roof problem so now we're waiting on a new roof.

Once you pop you just don't stop!

If it were me I'd be transparent that there is an issue, but sell and let them do the work.

And I'd get started on that baby too and not wait.

Good luck

We bought a house with obvious damp issues. The survey was appalling, so appalling that I rang the surveyor and asked if we were mad to be considering it and off the record would he buy it. "Oh like a shot" he said. So we did.

The vendor had 15 full price offers on the house.

We were planning on spending a lot of money on it anyway but the damp cost an awful lot less to fix than I'd anticipated.

Sympathy @JumpstartMondays , we bought a house like that and every single issue we discovered and tried to fix revealed an additional problem which had to be sorted before the original issue could be done. They weren't small jobs either, more like springy floorboards that revealed rotten joists that revealed a solid floor and damp breach resulting in digging out the whole kitchen floor to a depth of over a metre...

OP's house doesn't sound like that though so hopefully the damp is the only issue that stands out. And if it was me, I would get the damp problem fixed before putting it on the market and at 38, just get cracking with baby no. 2.

The market isn't good at the moment and of the houses I see going on, the ones taking longer to sell or not selling are the ones that need work on them. Trades seem to have long lead times, especially the good, trustworthy ones, so I'd find it off-putting knowing the property had water ingress and damp which I'd have to get fixed and maybe have to wait for that, while the problem gets worse... nope. Other houses out there that don't have that problem.

At least what it would cost, plus additional 25-50% for the inconvenience

As long as you disclose it honestly then I don't see a problem. Although it will likely put a lot of people off – damp is often not straightforward to fix. If you want to get the best price, I would do the work first.

Our sellers did not disclose (and covered up) a significant damp problem and it's caused a huge amount of stress, will be very expensive to fix, and it's pretty devastating tbh.

We bought with an obvious damp issue - got our own builders round to get a full survey of issue and cost to fix as house was priced to reflect the problem. Similar to yours was a roof / render issue.

Got straight onto fixing it before we'd even unpacked and it was done and completely decorated just a few months later.

Personally it would be ok with me, but I'd take your quote and just knock it straight off the asking price plus a bit for inconvenience/contingency, so you might be better to fix it yourselves unless it's the time issue that is most pressing. Alternatively you could as your estate agent to market it with the damp factored in and then be super clear you won't be negotiating because it's factored into the asking price.
You will likely lose/not attract nervous first time buyers (who hear damp and RUN). You will attract those who want a project or want a bargain, but they'll be offering lower...
We sold a flat with a leaky roof, we paid a roofing company to patch the damaged bits and ensure it was no longer leaking and explained to buyers that whilst there were signs of a leak it had been fixed - showed them all the paperwork etc.it cost less than an entire new roof (the Grade A most expensive solution) but meant we knocked nothing off the price. If we'd sold it without any fix, all the buyers would've knocked 50k off to replace the entire roof (which whilst being the best option and probably recommended wasn't totally necessary). Is there a middle way for you which removes the damp medium-term but isn't as costly?

I have a damp problem also and you seem quite knowledgeable. Would an independent damp surveyor be the best person to come and look and tell me what should be done. I’m really afraid of being scammed by cowboys.