Surveyor recorded damp readings but vendor denying

[goteam]

Not sure what to do. We had a survey done on a house we are buying and it came back with high damp readings in the bathroom suspected by a leaking pipe behind the wall.

Solicitor went back to vendor who took the builder back there (I suspect the one who did the very recent renovation) who said there is no damp and no pipe behind that part of wall.

We really dont want to move in to a house with existing problems. It was a new renovations so our offer was very close to the asking price as we weren't expecting any work to be needed. We are in a chain though so cant just pull out and the house is in every other way perfect.

What are our options?

I wouldn’t really want to deal with a vendor who is lying about things, but you need to to decide if you want to.

Either take the house as it is or walk away. You could look for another house and there is a chance the chain remains in place. If not, you’ll all have to start again. But that happens. Don’t buy a house you don’t want because of other people in the chain.

Damp meter readings are notoriously unreliable for a host of reasons. If there had previously been a leak then things may still be drying out for one. You could get a damp survey done by another RICS surveyor - don't use a damp proofing company's own free survey - and see what the conclusions are. If there is damp then reduce your offer to cover any remedial work which may be needed.

Yes you can pull out - being in a chain doesn’t prevent that. That sounds like pricey work to fix. I’m sure there are devices for detecting pipe work so you could do that?

How bad are they saying the damp is?

Our old house had some damp patches picked up on the reader in a few rooms but showed no particular signs of damp - there was some poor air circulation in those rooms and DP had been using one as a gym so it got a bit sweaty.

High damp readings in a bathroom - could someone have had a shower and not opened a window not long before the readings were taken? There are loads of reasons for a damp reading to be incorrect.

If the damp was bad you would be able to smell it or see signs of it or the wall itself would feel clammy.

If there was something leaking behind a wall - again there would be signs.

I'd ask to investigate further and go and look yourselves but really you cant expect to move into a house and there be nothing wrong with it. Even with new builds you get problems.

Get a specialist damp surveyor / company?

Not one that does it for free though, some are charlatans.

Should cost about £150. Then discount if you use them for work.

I’d get a building surveyor to do a specialist survey to check for damp.

You can then go back to the vendor and ask for the price to be reduced to reflect the cost of any remedial works (they won’t necessarily agree, particularly if there are other interested parties but you can then decide whether you’re willing to cover the cost yourselves).

Thanks all , looks like specialist damp surveyor is the way forward