Selling a house with very bad damp in a popular area

[Shattered04]

My elderly mother lives in a very popular Cornish coastal town in an older property. For years now, the property is completely damp and she has had horrendous black mould growing. We know the problem; the rendering needs fully replacing. However, even before Covid she was having trouble getting anyone to do it (she even has a grant for it) as there's some complication over scaffolding, pavements, a road sign - I don't recall the exact details but suffice to say, she's been let down by so many builders now. She has written to her MP, her local counsellor, the council - they have all tried to help but also got nowhere; the latest, probably final attempt by her local counsellor has just petered out. Again. It's probably just a case of "who you know" and she doesn't know people in the trades.

She has COPD and has just been diagnosed with cancer. She's done with it, she needs to move, she can't spend another winter there. She had wanted to stay in the house but it's now reached that point. She's had enough.

If she were to put the house on the market, would it sell? I mean, the mould is pretty bad in some rooms, but the house is otherwise very structurally sound and looked after (she's been able to arrange other maintenance over the years e.g. chimney, roof etc). It really is in a prime location, and given the current market, this could be her best chance to sell when people are less picky? What sort of value would be knocked off for something like this? Would she still be able to sell it?

I'll be visiting her soon (I'm the other end of the country from her) and we will see if we can get estate agents in to value, but it would be great to have a more impartial opinion in advance, as I trust EAs about as far as I can throw them!!

Thanks! :-)

@FurierTransform

I would have thought you can get it into a basically ready to sell state fairly quickly by removing the mould in each room, stain block paint, then paint the entire outside of the house with that moisture blocking stuff you can treat bricks with. That will make it good for at least a few more years I'd have thought.

This is extremely bad advice and won't work in a house which is this damp. By all means, remove the mould which will be offputting, but any damp is sure to show up in a survey. The walls will be like sponges if the render has failed and no amount of stain block will keep the retained moisture from coming through. It will also make your mother look as if she is trying to dupe buyers.

Agree, adding barriers to moisture laden walls only makes it worse. Best to get render off let it dry out and then use solutions sympathetic and compatible with old buildings traditional construction methods

Thanks again everyone! :-)

It is pretty hardcore damp, it's fair to say! She had the chimney repaired a few years back, as it looked like that was the cause of it, and repainted everything then. While the chimney issue would not have been helping, it became depressingly clear something else was wrong too when the mould came back pretty sharpish. The walls are indeed like sponges, which is why she doesn't bother with the dehumidifier as it just burns money.

She hasn't yet decided where she wants to live (in the country, even - stay where she is, or move near us, or my sister) so she most likely will move into rented somewhere for the winter, and put her stuff in storage and decide then. So a very proceedable buyer - which I guess is quite likely if it's going to attract builders - would indeed be best.

Complicating matters is her upcoming surgery in a few weeks, but I've reassured her that with the best will in the world (especially right now!) no house sale would complete before she's made a reasonable recovery from that! She'll need ongoing treatment most likely, but I'm (hopefully not naively) assuming that if she moves out of area it would be picked up promptly in her new area?

Speaking as someone who has taken in major projects, and knowing others who have too, the damp would not be an issue. Your buyer will be someone capable of tackling that and as such quite savvy, all you need is to hide nothing, and know its worth so you don't undersell it.
Meanwhile surreal to whoever is overseeing your mums surgery and check if she can stay under them even if she is housed elsewhere for a while.

Speak to

There’s actually a piece in the Times today about the Green Home scheme - and what a disaster it’s been. Tradespeople have had trouble getting back their money from the scheme so have stopped using it. Which is why there’s now a dearth of them willing to take on new jobs. If I were your mother, I’d try to get a damp specialist in to do a report, provide an estimate of what it would cost to carry out the repairs, and then put the house on the market. She can then show potential buyers what the cost of the job would be and ensure she prices the house accordingly.

Yes agree, if it's in a popular location, at the right price it will sell. Good luck!

Just get it on the market. It will only get worse. She's not obliged to accept the offers that hopefully come in. But they will give a good indication of what it's worth. I imagine a developer will be interested. Good luck.

I had a similar thing where we had to put a scaffold on a narrow pavement on a busy narrow road. It did need carefully coordinatination with the local council and we had to accept days they would be prepared to close the road while scaffolding went up. It was possible though. I suspect a builder will buy it and do the work themselves.

@PieceOfString

Agree, adding barriers to moisture laden walls only makes it worse. Best to get render off let it dry out and then use solutions sympathetic and compatible with old buildings traditional construction methods

Sorry, just to clarify I meant painting the outside/current render of the house with something like this, then following up with the usual inside of stainblock etc

www.wickes.co.uk/Stormdry-Masonry-Water-Repellent---3L/p/133883

If it's not possible to repair the render properly, this would be a very good interim step, would stop or at least vastly reduce the continued penetrating damp & allow the wall to gradually dry out, and can be done in a day, comparatively cheaply by any decorator, using a pole & ladder.
I've used it and it's actually a really good product - it makes your wall act similar to a freshly waxed/sealed car in the rain - all the water just beads up and runs straight off.

Can I just say that for everyone's sakes, I would urge her to move near you or your sibling. Helping to sort out care for elderly parents at a distance is a nightmare

Hope the sake goes through quickly

The Green Homes Grant was a totally mishandled government farce. Agree with PP that if she gets a damp specialist to list (and maybe even gets a couple of quotes), that shouldn't put off buyers if the price is reasonable. Or is there any way she (or you) could get a loan for the works which would then be repaid once the house is sold?

I'm (hopefully not naively) assuming that if she moves out of area it would be picked up promptly in her new area?

My experience of this in non-pandemic times would be that it’s hugely variable - and it’s likely to be even more so now that a lot of places have a big backlog and reduced patient hours.

But if she’s going into rented, she’ll have some control over how long she stays and when she moves, so she’ll be able to work that to her schedule.

I wouldn't even bother with a damp report for now. Unless you have a buyer who feels it necessary. Many people interested in a project will sort themselves out, so it might just be an unnecessary expense for now.

Thank you everyone for your excellent advice! I'll talk through all your comments with her this evening, and she will be relieved to hear that selling may not be as tricky as she has feared.

She's started to talk about moving near us which would be wonderful, not just for me (and practical issues) but also because we have never had any other family nearby on either side, and our children have never had that experience of nearby non-immediate family. Though we'll have to pay careful attention to continuity of her medical care it sounds like, depending on when she decides to make the big "up country"/aka anywhere east of the Tamar leap.

Very topical that the Green Homes Grant has come up in a report so recently! Honestly, the grief she had dealing with it (I vaguely recall a lot of rubbish over stupid forms among other things) and the stress it caused, and then it was all for nothing in the end

We've had our house, in a good state of repair (though could use a new kitchen and some new carpets) on the market for two months now - houses in our price bracket are really sticking round here post stamp duty relief ending. I wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry if my mum gets an offer before we do with all that black mould!! As desperate as we are to move, I'd be very happy if she beat us to it.

Just wanted to give an update in case there are other people out there in a similar situation with a less than ideal house in a "hot" area!

I went down to visit her a few weeks ago for a few days, and we chose a local estate agent based on several genuine recommendations from friends. We got some other agents in to quote too, and all of them suggested the same price (which was the one we had in mind too!) so we were happy.

They took their time putting together a very detailed listing, and ran everything past her for approval (the exact opposite of ours ) before listing it earlier this week. The photos do show some of the damp, but as you would hope from a decent agent, it's not at the forefront of the images, and neither is it misleading. The property is introduced as "requiring renovation" so there's no misunderstandings. It's clear she has a lot of stuff as well, but there's nothing we could do about that in the timeframe, though I did at least manage to do some tidying, cleaning, and vacuuming! My sister is with her now, doing lots of decluttering with her.

Anyway, the agent contacted her today to say they already have 12 potential viewers lined up!! That's more viewers than we've had for ours in three months! (we just sacked our estate agent btw!)

She's now had her surgery (yay super quick NHS for this one!), and we're waiting on the scary biopsy results due very shortly. Whichever way they go, once she knows, she'll be able to focus better on the house and the viewings will be scheduled in.

Just wanted to say thank you again to everyone on this thread who offered advice, and helped provide the confidence she needed to take this step - that it wouldn't be a whole load of stress for a whole load of tumbleweed because of the property's condition, and you were all right

Well that’s a good update. Good luck with the viewings. I always think if the EA is upfront and shows the property in a good light but is frank about potential issues potential buyers know where they stand.

Of course some on viewing may be put off, but others will see the property for the location and will accept it needs work to make it into their dream home and be prepared to put the work in providing the price reflects it needs modernisation etc.

I should imagine the popular location will swing it. Most things can be rectified with money and desire to do the work. Understandably an older person is less inclined or able to cope with doing it.

Good luck.

Thanks! Yep, from the description it's quite clear they're being upfront, and the photos do show the clutter, and people are still interested!! Annoyingly I did re-arrange some of the clutter to make for a good angle for the photos, but the photographer - I wasn't there when he came - bizarrely took photos from the opposite angle in some cases making the clutter look worse than it actually was! I'd piled that stuff up out the way of what would logically be the best place to take a shot - so it actually looks worse than it is in reality now, and it's a weird angle on those rooms. Plus it'll be improved by the time viewers come round due to my sister helping.

Absolutely everything that's an issue with it can be fixed by money, the location is pretty special even before the area became a "must buy". So we're keeping our fingers firmly crossed - maybe we'll even get a bidding war (yes please!!) though we are not counting chickens yet!

I hope you had get some decent offers and the biopsy is clear.

Is it definitely damp or just condensation causing problems? If so, try Envirovent.