Valuation came back as £0 without survey on the cellar!

[Babygotblueyes]

Never sold a home before so dont know what to do. I have a victorian home with a cellar - done lots of work through the house but the valuation for the survey came back with a £0 valuation until there is a special report done on the cellar. Just been down there and it is damp - in the summer it is better as I leave all the doors open and air it. I am freaking out that I am going to be told I have to do a lot of expensive stuff to it. Anyone else had experience of this? Any advice? I am running a dehumidifier down there, is there anything else I can do?

What on earth? Who did the survey? A damp cellar is easily sorted, it certainly doesn't reduce the valuation of your house to zero

@GreyhoundG1rl

What on earth? Who did the survey? A damp cellar is easily sorted, it certainly doesn't reduce the valuation of your house to zero

Thank you! That is what I thought! It has me in a real flap to be honest. It was the valuation for the bank - the buyers are first timers and I think the banks are just really making them jump through all kinds of hoops. I have never heard of this before though.

Aside from heater or dehumidifiers, is there anything else I can do?

I don't know much about this but I would get a specialist damp expert in to look at the cellar. Is it that the cellar needs 'tanking' and damp proof course etc?

How long have you lived there, and what did your own survey say about the cellar when you bought it?

A £0 valuation just means they aren't willing to give a price - it's quite common when they think something needs a specialist survey. It doesn't mean your house is worth £0.

Basically they are saying they think the cellar needs further investigation and they aren't willing to put a value to the house until they know if it needs work and how much that will cost.

You can see why, if they were to put a price reduction of 10% on there and it turned out that no work was needed then the seller could sue them. If they were to put a reduction of 10% and the work actually cost another £50k then the buyer could sue them. So they are basically saying further investigation is needed.

It sounds like it needs tanking, a friend had it done years ago.

Thanks all - just caught me off guard. I will see what their survey comes back with and take it from there. I have been here 10 years dont remember anything on my survey about damp. I have a lot of stuff done since then, thought, including a new floor in the living room - you used to be able to see the cellar through the floorboards, so it is possible that increasing insulation has decreased air flow and made it more damp. I have a dehumidifier I run, and on nice days leave the door open so there is some air flow through, but obviously at the moment it is really hard to do that. Anyone know how much tanking a cellar costs?

The cost depends on a lot of factors - are you at the top or bottom of a hill, how high is the water table relative to the depth of the cellar, how damp is it, does it need a pump

We had a dry (top of a hill) cellar tanked and lined before moving the boiler and hot water system into it, and it was £7k including the plasterboarding and placing the relevant gas, water and electrical supplies in the right places

It was a few membrane sheets then boarded out

But it would have been more if they had to install pumps, back up pumps, drainage channels etc which some friends needed to have

The buyers should get and pay to get a report done on the celler. Are they getting a survey done? I had a large Victorian house with a celler. I don't recall it being damp particularly but it was never an issue when we bought it or sold it.

@Livingintheclouds

The buyers should get and pay to get a report done on the celler. Are they getting a survey done? I had a large Victorian house with a celler. I don't recall it being damp particularly but it was never an issue when we bought it or sold it.

I am not sure if they were going to, the guy who came to do the bank valuation survey kept saying that with a home of this age (1880) they needed to get a home buyer report. So maybe it is because of that? I am trying not to spin out but in my imagination see being asked to do loads of work or take 1000s off the price because of a damp cellar. Trying to take a deep breath and not project too much until I hear what happens next and have it sorted out.