What is this and who should I call!?!

[Dream1990]

We are moving into a new house this weekend, had the keys for almost a month and have just had the place painted. To my horror I saw this on the wall today. See attached.

There’s no evidence of condensation on the windows just these isolated water marks.

We previously had a damp survey and nothing major was picked up, any idea what this might be and who I could call?

it’s an old Victorian cottage, end of terrace.

Ghostbusters 👻

Go and have a look at the outside and check the guttering, it might just be caused by a drip, you may need that socket checking though. Don’t use it.

If not a gutter then the wall may need repointing.

You need to track down wjee it's coming from. I wouldn't call anyone yer especially damp companies as they will just try and sell you loads of things you don't want in an old house. See if there is anything on the other side of the walk such as drippjng gutters, overhanging plants, leading not fixed to the wall. If you need to call anyone make sure they are experienced in older buildings di they don't try and suggest gypsum plastering over, or damp proof injections etc as these will just make it worse.

Don't panic most damp patches half way up a wall have a solvable explanation.

Is the room itself damp?

I only ask because I follow a guy on Twitter who posted a similar photo, commenting that the filler used to patch a wall was more prone to absorbing moisture than the original painted/sealed plaster. He had a fancy name for it, which I can't remember.

It does look as if there might have been some filling after rewiring (above the socket).

Thanks everyone. We live next to a pub and it kind of looks like the black gutter is leading onto our wall… not sure what we can do about that?

room itself isn’t damp. We didn’t notice any of this when we viewed the house or any point up until today!

You need a surveyor to come and take a look. It doesn't cost much for a single issue like that, they can look at the damp and what is going on next door.

The pattern of wetness looks like damp coming through the bit where the condiliit is for the electrics and possibly a bit where there is some dot dab plastering.

If the place hasn't been lived in then it could possibly just be condensation because it has suddenly got cold and the heating isn't on? I would definitely turn the heating on and see if the patches dry out to start with. If they don't then try some other options.

Thanks all, we had a survey but no mention of this….See attached.

Thank you… there was someone living there up until recently but the heating probably hasn’t been on due to the warm weather.

lll try the heating trick

Right - the pub will need to move their pipework so it drains onto their property then. I suggest you ring your local water company and ask them to clarify, but as far as I'm aware, if you have water from your roof coming down a drainpipe, it has to either drain onto your land, or straight into a sewer.

So the pub can't have their drainpipe draining onto your property.

Quite surprised your surveyor didn't spot it actually.

Thank you for coming back to me… who can I contact if they don’t want to sort this from their end? Is there someone at the council or equivalent? just want to know my legal rights in terms of getting this resolved asap.

We have a 10month old and I really don’t want to be sleeping in a damp room

It doesn't look like a damp. It looks like the paint just flaked off, you can scratch it with your nail and if it flakes off then the wall was not primed when painted.

Not a big issue just paint the wall with a primer and then repaint it with the original colour.

No point ringing the water company

The outside wall doesn't have a down pipe, it's just the waste pipe. To see if the gutter or downpipe leaks on the side wall just wait until a heavy rainfall and see if the brickwork is wet.

Thanks, will check and see

There is, actually. Water rates include charges for waste water and that includes water draining into the system from roofs etc. They would also understand the law with regard to allowing runoff from your roof's gutter to drain onto someone else's property. We found this all out when NDNs were building their new garage, and they had to make sure that all the drainpipes discharged onto their land and not ours.

No, not in all cases. I have a sewage treatment plant and an agreement elsewhere for surface water discharge. Foul and surface water are very different systems.

We gave our water company very short shrift when they tried to come after us to pay for waste water disposal as well as supply.

There are a great many cases where it's nothing to do with a water company.

I spoke to Thames and they couldn’t help us they just said speak to the neighbours and hope they action it, if not I can go to the council to the drainage team who can assist

🤣🤣🤣

@Dream1990 It's worth looking into; of course, and I'd talk to your solicitor (or look through all the paperwork you got; as it's the weekend), but I'd be surprised if the pub doesn't have a legal agreement for it's pipes to be where they are if your surveyor and solicitor didn't flag anything during the buying process.

Yes, but the building next door to the OP shouldn't be allowing the water from their drainpipe to run down the OP's wall.

I was suggesting that the OP contacted the water company, not for them to actually do anything, but so they could clarify the legal position, which they should know about.