Wet walls on newly bought property

[NewtoLiverpool]

I moved in to my new flat a few days ago. The flat had been empty for a while without heating and the previous owner had left all the windows adjar.

When I moved in I put the heating on and the first few days of living there I noticed the windows had quite a lot of condensation on it and the wall in my bedroom was a little wet, which I put down to gutters.

Yesterday I spent the first full day in my flat and whilst unpacking etc I realised that all of my external facing walls (2 sides to the flat) across multiple rooms are wet.

The water is in odd patches and I think it has 'grown' since I moved in. I had a structural survey done back in late September which mentioned nothing about damp and I guess I am wondering if anybody has any idea as to what I can do about it. E.g. Could the water be caused by me moving in and heating it after it was empty for so long or is the sheer scale of the water likely to be indicative of a much larger issue.

I am hoping to speak to my neighbours and the building management company to see if this is a longstanding issue. However, I would be really grateful for any advice as this house buying process is rapidly becoming a nightmare!

It sounds this could just be a result of the flat being cold for so long.
Hopefully it'll disappear in a week or so.
If it continues it might be worth borrowing a dehumidifier for a few weeks to really help the walls dry out.

Don't put furniture too close to the walls yet to help them dry out.

Condensation caused by hot air in the room meeting cold walls IMO. Open the windows, as PP said use a dehumidifier if you can. Hopefully it will get better once you have been in a while.

Thank you

I have spoken to the downstairs neighbours and they have the same problem every winter.

I assume this should have been picked up by the survey - I had a structural one done?

If it’s just very bad condensation then a structural survey wouldn’t pick it up. We have god awful condensation in our 3 bed semi to the point we had wet on the lights upstairs and our survey was fine. We ended up paying to put ventilation bricks in the roof and ended up having to have the heating on - and windows open!- a lot more than we would have liked. It drives us mad to be honest. If we had realised how bad it was we would never have bought it, I have lived in lots of places and never had anything like it before so it’s not us!

Problem with the survey is that if it was done in September, at the end of the summer, it might not have been damp then. But check the survey anyway, also the Property Information forms, and , if it's comparatively new ( ten years) any building guarantees.
But it sounds as if it is a problem with the building, and you should contact the management company, who may already be aware of the issue.