Found this mould behind the sofa in a house I'm interested in

[089ville]

I've been very wary of mold since I lived somewhere and the shower leaked and caused so much of my stuff to go moldy.

A thread on here the other day people saw mold as a total non issue.

The estate agent says it's just because the vendor goes away in the winter and doesn't heat ventilate the property. What do you think?

It's on an external wall

Forgot to say the estate agent said it's pretty much nothing, treat then paint over and if heated and aired it won't come back

I wouldn’t trust an estate agent. He might be right but I still wouldn’t trust him.

I'd wait to see what an inspector says, not an EA.

buying or renting?
if renting - don't.
buying - only after a full structural survey

If it’s that easy to treat, the cause is known and it happened in winter, you’d think the vendor would have treated it before attempting to sell. Mould wouldn’t put me off buying but I wouldn’t trust that estate agent.

I'm buying ,not even sure it's worth the money for a survey - with mold behind somewhere it's a sign of expensive damage and not worth it right?

He said the vendor fixed it in other rooms but didn't check behind the sofa. You can see fresh paint in the corner of some of the other rooms

Is it an old house? Sadly older properties do tend to suffer mould and damp problems. Especially on external walls. There are ways to fix though. Definitely don’t go by an estate agent’s word. It doesn’t look too bad but a survey would tell you about any damp issues - then you can either renegotiate price or ask them to fix, or pull out.

A survey is worth its weight in gold and can help you decide if you can shoulder the issues and what to look out for in future. Surveys reveal quite a lot about properties and they also help when you come to view others as you’re a bit more savvy with what to look out for!

The 'fresh paint in the corner' doesn't sound like a fix to me; more of a bodge to hide the hide the mould he could see.

It's in the corners of the other rooms as well? Don't do it. It sounds like structural damp issue throughout not just them popping away and the heating not being on for a while. I've lived in places like this and it will drive you crazy.

Too many hides in that!

That looks like the sort of mould you'd get through lack of ventilation and heating. If there is a sofa pushed up against it the the problem will be exacerbated. Is there a single glazed window in the vicinity that condensates, adding to the damp in the air? Is there any other evidence of damp - rotting skirting or floorboards for example? Have a look outside at the wall - is the path higher than the damp proof course or is there leaking from a drain or gutter?

I wouldn't necessarily discount the house because of that, or assume the problem would be costly to fix. You need to have a really good look at the rest of the area, inside and out, to try to get a fuller picture.

We had mould in one of our rooms. We redecorated and heat and ventilate the house properly and jt didn't come back (6years on).

But, it could be leaky roof that is tracking down, leaky windows, cracked render or damp. Is it upstairs or downstairs? Can you borrow a moisture meter from someone? They are only about £20 on amazon.

The vendor and estate agent says it's just from leaving empty and unventilated over the winter and drying clothes indoors. The fresh paint stuff was said to be done 2 years ago - you can tell it's a slightly different colour.

The damp I found was under a window with a sofa pushed up right against it.

The damp proof course is above the path. Gutters are all clear. No sign of rot on the skirting boards or floorboards. Although the floorboards do move a bit when you walk.

It's a 90 year old house, does that count as old?

Has it been owner occupied or rented out? Tenants can mismanage humidity eg by drying clothes on radiators, not opening windows. But I find it a bit fishy that a sofa has been pushed against the mould.
Are there signs of damp from the outside eg streaks of water down the wall, damp pooling on the ground outside the house, or white streaks on the brickwork?

It's not really fishy that the sofa is against the wall. If you think it's been moved there to hide the mould then look for dents in the carpet to show if it lives there permanently or has been moved, and look at the shape and size of the mould area and see if it is roughly the size and shape of the sofa.

The house is reasonably old. Most old houses have some boards that move, mainly because over the years they will have been taken up and put back down again for various reasons (laying heating pipes, electricity cables etc). If you are worried about the boards then see if you can lift the carpet slightly to check underneath. If they've been lifted it should be fairly obvious. They rarely go back down well once lifted, but you can screw them down to ensure there is less movement in them (obviously checking that there are no pipes or cables where you are screwing first ).

That just looks like it’s caused by a lack of ventilation/ humidity.