We viewed a Victorian house that was back on the market (due to previous buyers pulling out because of concerns about damp), in late May. There were lots of viewings but eventually it was between us and another buyer, both interested. The estate agent also mentioned that due to the previous offer falling through due to damp, the vendor was planning to do some work (damp proof courses and replastering) to address this, meaning we shouldn't need to reduce our offer due to damp. We'd rather have done the work ourselves but didn't feel we could insist on this, as the vendor was quite possibly not going to go with our offer anyway. We were told the work had started and was ongoing, but weren't given any details of the work.
The estate agent told us the vendor was ideally looking for a cash buyer, which we're not, so if we wanted to put an offer in, it would need to be at asking price for us to be in with a chance, so we reluctantly put in an offer at full asking price, at the start of June. Our offer was rejected anyway, as we were told the vendor preferred the other buyers, who were cash buyers.
We stayed in touch, and in early July, we were told that the other buyers were pulling out, as 'they couldn't get a mortgage'! So clearly not cash buyers. 🙄We were then asked if we wanted to go ahead with our original offer, and reasoning that we could renegotiate after survey, we said yes.
We were concerned about the damp and any other structural issues, given the history with this property and the fact it was a period property, so instructed a surveyor that specialises in period properties. The survey identified a number of quite concerning things re damp, not least (as we suspected) that the work the vendor is doing supposedly to rectify the damp is instead likely to be making it much worse, and he observed the decorators in situ painting over damp plaster, that clearly has not had time to dry out. They are using modern waterproof paints and cements that are in effect damaging the fabric of the property.
I went back to the estate agent and queried this - the estate agent we've been dealing with, who'd given us little info, is on holiday and a more helpful colleague has now belatedly sent us a load of info about the damp work, including dated contracts. This shows that the work wasn't even agreed until a week AFTER our offer had been accepted - am furious that in that case, they didn't think to check with us, before starting on a massive programme of very invasive work. To clarify, they are installing a chemical damp proof course and replastering all walls on a 30 foot lounge and another 12 foot lounge, so removing this and redoing it would be a huge and very messy job and would mean we couldn't move in for months.
While we could just live with it and hope the work doesn't actually cause further damp, I have a serious mould allergy and would literally be disabled by living anywhere with a damp problem, so that's not an option I'm very comfortable with.
Don't really know what to do - we could obviously go back and reduce our offer, but get that the vendor is not going to be thrilled at taking off money to rectify work they are currently paying for! The estate agents swear that the work is high quality and guaranteed so there shouldn't be an issue; they even say they've used the firm on their own properties. Which may well be true - it doesn't change the fact that it's not suitable for a Victorian house, not what we would want and was started after our offer was accepted without checking with us or even telling us!
Any thoughts on how best to respond? We do like the house and there's nothing else out there currently that we prefer. And we've spent quite a bit on surveyors/solicitors so far. But what originally looked like a house that was ready to move in to is now anything but - in addition to the damp work, the current owner also covered the house in plastic paint and installed a new drive blocking the ventilation, so we are going to have spend ££ to basically undo everything they've done to the house in the last decade. Such a shame, as it's a really attractive period property, but owned by someone with no understanding of period properties, who never even lived in it (US-based).
Sorry for the long post, but trying not to dripfeed. Thanks for all advice.