Help! What are my options for an old quarry tiled hallway?

[WillowB]

Hallway of our 1920s house has carpet over broken quarry tiles. They are laid on goodness knows what and there's damp coming up in places.
Had a fitter come round to quote for Karndean tonight and he said the only thing we can have over it is carpet?!
He said any screed would crack and damp would come up through the floor.
We've had loads of other quotes and no one has mentioned this. Others have said they would screed and put a damp proof membrane down. I'm not sure what to do now. Karndean/amtico is so pricey that I can't afford it to look a mess in a year or two.
Any advice gratefully received 🙏🏻

Our hall had Minton tiles and years ago we had to put a thick layer of concrete on top because we’d had some subsidence/heave & floor levels were adrift by an inch or so.

That concrete was carpeted for a long time but we now have Karndean (on top of screed) with no issues.

However the Minton tiles were all stable, not broken or loose, and as I said it is a very thick layer of concrete. Maybe get a builder in to advise on stabilising the remaining tiles? Or get them all lifted? (Our hall has no dampproofing - it’s an 1890s mid-terrace in Lancs & they didn’t do it up here - but it doesn’t seem to have any problems)

Thinking on, it may have had that blue plastic sheeting under the concrete - the kitchen was done at the same time & that did. But it was over 30 years ago, & part of big complicated alterations

Thank you, that's helpful to know. I thought there must be people out there living in old houses who don't have carpet down!