Purchased house without survey. Mould found.

[JMC91]

We’ve completed on an Edwardian (I think) house and moved in yesterday. No survey done as we’re cash buyers
I never noticed the damp/ sweet mould smells but it’s something I can’t stop smelling now. I should add that I’m pregnant and a bit afraid of any works we need to undertake and the effect of mould or damp on a baby.

there are some plasterboard walls put in around bay windows and against other walls randomly. I don’t know what this suggests but it doesn’t look too good.

we haven’t looked in the attic yet but I’m a bit afraid.
can anyone offer any advice

I don't think anyone's made this point yet, but pregnancy can do incredible things to your sense of smell. I'm 23 weeks and still have a really heightened sense of smell - I can literally smell BO and bad breath from miles away, and I noticed smells of damp in my house with the recent rains we had (though no actual damp issues in the house). so it might be actually that you don't actually have a big damp problem, you can just reeeeealllyy smell it at the moment

What do you mean by "no survey done as cash buyers" ?
How odd. I mean, if no mortgage then no mortgage lender to request it, but seriously? That's incredibly naive and foolish.

So go and get it now?

I echo what has been said about pregnancy and sense of smell. It makes it go nuts!
We had a woodburner put in whilst I was pregnant and for months after I couldnt stand the strong, weird, chemical smell coming from it. Made me gag, struggled to be in the room.
No one else could smell a thing - at all! And after the baby was born I couldn't smell anything anymore!
Hopefully it's just that!

My daughter is 26 now but I can still remember gagging at the smell of roast chicken, I agree, pregnancy does funny things to your sense of smell.

Just have a damp survey done.

We had damp.in our Victorian home and it really wasn't a fortune to fix it.

I've never so much as viewed a house to buy but even I know you need a survey.

You've accumulated enough cash to buy a whole house and you didn't think to get a survey?

Not only that but you haven't looked in the attic? I pay more careful detail when staying in a hotel than you have buying a house.

I'm not patronising you, but could this be pregnancy-exacerbated? I only ask because in my pregnancies I couldn't be in any room with a drain, no matter how immaculate! I could smell tap water in a glass.

All very good advice, and definitely would be my first point of call. Mould is more often than not a consequence of inadequate ventilation and/or too much moisture inside house, The excess moisture is often as a consequence of lifestyle - drying washing inside, not opening windows or using extractor fans etc. I’d address all of that, if appropriate, and the fabric points above, before assuming the worst and calling in ‘experts’. Did any ‘damp expert’ ever not sell you a solution…?

This is good advice and try to avoid being sold a chemical damp proof course for an older property.

Really wouldn't panic. Standard surveys are pretty crap anyway and the house has been stood empty a while. Could just be a bit musty

At first I couldn't even work out what being a cash buyer had to do with not getting a survey. Oh my god I could never make such a huge purchase without understanding what I was buying structurally- what a risk!!