Damp survey?

[hopefullybuying]

Not sure how best to approach this. A property we've viewed has "higher than average" damp readings in the home report (Scottish system, so the seller provides the home report which is a basic survey).

I'm unsure whether to A) try to get a damp survey done before offering, if we have time, or B) offer "subject to damp survey" but then our offer maybe looks a bit dubious as we could change it, or C) run for the hills as perhaps a house with damp is going to be a money pit in the long run?

Any thoughts?

Anyone?

What type of construction is it?
Where are the higher than average readings coming from?

It's 200 years old, mainly sandstone, brick extension. Readings taken from the lower wall linings at various random locations.

I'd suggest a visit to this site: www.heritage-house.org/
Have a read around. 'Dampmeters' do not give accurate readings on walls. For an accurate reading, you need to drill a good way into the wall and take samples and test them. We got a bog standard damproofing company to do a survey on this house. They diagnosed extensive damp throughout the whole house and expensive repairs. They were wrong about just about everything. When HH came and did a proper survey after we bought the house, drilling where there was doubt, there was only one small area with actual damp- and that was where some idiot before us had done exactly what the damproofing company had suggested we did to the whole house. It cleared up there when we reversed all that had been done. Everything else was condensation, which cleared up after we got the house properly ventilated, and other minor and highly localised causes which were easy to remedy.