Selling a damp property

[kitkatsky]

Hi, thanks in advance for the advice. I have a small damp problem in the house I’m about to put on market. It’ll cost under a grand to fix. Would you bother or would you take the chance?

is it damp or condensation?
with condensation I would take the chance, with damp only to tear down and rebuilt if it can be easily rectified. I would expect that to be reflected in price and a survey paid for by the vendor.

I wouldn't buy a house with damp unless it was heavily discounted and I loved it.

I would sort it and possibly rent a dehumidifier to dry it out out properly and quickly. Unless your house is very desirable i think it would put a lot of buyers off.

Its definitely damp, but only two small patches in one room. So concensus is its worth paying the grand to sell it damp free?

I’d fix it. Buyers will catastrophise the nature of it and overestimate the cost to fix, leading to either no offer or a rock bottom offer.

Yes, sell it damp free. People are often scared of damp and worry it will come hand in hand with other (expensive) problems. It is often worrying enough to put them off shelling out for a survey as they may expect it to come back with 1000 issues, so would rather keep their money and keep looking!

Thanks loads for the insight!

Depends on the house. We sold an old house that needed other bits of work with damp in situ and a quote for remedial works of about £1600. I think it helped that we got rid of ALL the condensation damp and then repainted any previously damp areas. If you have the time and funds though I think you’d be pleased to have fixed it before going on the market (make sure the work comes with a 30 year guarantee)