Living in an old cottage

[Mariesk1]

I’ve been struggling to find somewhere to live for the last few months and the stress has been making me ill. Every time I apply for a property I miss out to someone else. I’ve finally found a 500 year old cottage to rent that has been renovated with some remaining exposed brickwork.
When I walked in the smell reminded me of a cave. Is this normal in such an old property and is it something to worry about? The property was empty and it had been shut up for a while. There was no sign of damp or mould that I could see.

I would be wary. Years ago we moved into a freshly painted flat. It started going mouldy within days. After a week it acquired a horrible mouldy smell. There was so much mould everywhere despite adequate heating and ventilation. Even chocolates I bought on sale and stashed away for Christmas went mouldy

I’m sure someone wiser than me will be along in a moment, but here are my thoughts for what they are worth. I live in a 300 year old cottage and have done for 10 years.
That smell is likely damp, must and mould (not necessarily visible to the eye). There are loads of things that can improve it, including, crucially, living in it; airing it; using a dehumidifier - all before you get to any actual building solutions.
Do get a survey though - an thorough one.

Yeah its pretty standard for very old properties. I would only buy if you have deep pockets and a very gung ho attitude to DIY. Properties like that inevitably incur work. Renovations can be good or bad. If theyve used modern materials theyve likely created a damp problem. You can get a survey, but it probably wont make for good reading!

To rent, yes possibly.

If it's been empty for a while, it may smell a bit fusty. Old houses need to be lived in and aired. And it has been a very damp spring.

What is the surrounding area like? low lying and at risk of flooding? Or on a hill with obvious good drainage?

I wouldn't buy a 500 year old house though. Old houses invariable have higher maintenance costs.

So you are talking about RENTING this property, OP?

Then it should already have an EPC attached to it:

https://find-energy-certificate.service.gov.uk/find-a-certificate/search-by-postcode?lang=en&property_type=domestic

What is the EPC rating?

Does it say single or double glazing?

How many square metres?

What is the stated annual KwH for heating and hot water? (not the £ please, the actual KhW, eg 22,500 kwh heating 2,500 hot water).

EPCs can be nonsense or they can be a good starting point.

Old homes can be extremely expensive to heat, so in that respect I would approach with caution. But as PP say, a dehumidifier can help, as can keeping the heating on all the time (it will smell musty if it hasn't had any heating on).

I would assume they will be stone walls, uninsulated? These can be very cold homes. If it has wood burning stoves, that can help a lot.

I would expect an empty stone cottage to smell the way you describe it. But things can be done.

The op is renting. No need for a survey.

The EPC is D and it is double glazed. It’s also a mid terrace if that makes a difference so the only outside walls are the front and back. I’ve no idea what the kwh or square meters is though but it’s quite small.
it is on a hill near a river that floods, but it’s not at the bottom so there should be some drainage around it.
The smell reminded me a bit of Cheddar Gorge or Wooky Hole. The last house I rented had a damp smell (I viewed it online during Covid so didn’t know until I moved in) but the smell in this house was different.

If you're getting heat from both left and right from your neighbours, and as long as you're not in a field, completely exposed to wind from all directions, it'll probably be alright.

Double glazing makes a heck of a difference.

I wouldn't worry too much about the smell as long as you're prepared to run a dehumidifier and the heating for a while til it calms down.

Kosenrufugirl I’ve seen so many rental properties over the last few months and all were thick with mould. I can’t believe they rent them like it, and to make things worse they all look clean and freshly decorated in the pictures. I hope you managed to find somewhere better.

Ok, I can run a dehumidifier as I had to do that in my last house. I’ve always lived in newer builds so I’m not used to older properties. It didn’t smell upstairs either, it was just when I first walked in.

My dfriend lives in a 300 yr old cottage, I know the smell you're talking about.
She's spotlessly clean but the house has a "smell", reminds me of a cross between damp, mould, fusty, a bit like when you lift up a bit of damp wood in the garden and it has that wet woody smell, I call it the woodlice smell.
Her clothes even smell of it.
She puts it down to the exposed stone walls, she has very little insulation, a couple of walls have been insulated, plasterboarded.
Personally, I could live with it.

Thorough cleaning, airing through, dehumidifier and if there is a fire or stove then light it

I rent a similarly aged cottage, I have no double glazing, draughty floors and no damp. When the old tenant next door died the landlady who owns both cottages has double glazing installed, the new neighbours have endless problems with damp/mould because the place doesn't seem to be able to breathe any more. Apart from the double glazing the cottages are identical in every way, I know our landlady regrets having the windows installed.

Empty rental places often have a musty whiff. Especially older ones. Shouldn't be like that when you've moved in and the air is moving around.

I would rent it. Worse case you leave after a year.

It’s very likely just old house smell from no air from being empty. A good clean and Opening all the windows and it will smell
completely different in a week.

Ours isn’t that old (about 80 years old), and was empty for about 2 months only until we moved in. Lady left all her old furnishings and furniture, so it was just very musty

Thank you for everyone’s thoughts. I’ll give it a go. I have to say that although it was the oldest property I’ve seen, it was also the best looked after so a bit of febreze and an air might be all it needs. It will be nice to settle somewhere after a stressful few months of countless viewings.

We live in an older property and gradually house developed that slightly dank smell downstairs.

We were nose blind and only noticed it if we'd been away and the house was shut up for a week or 2 so ignored it for too long and put it down to old house smell.

We decided to decorate and while preparing the inside window sill discovered a large section of it was all wet and rotten inside, oops!!

It's all sorted now and the smell completely went once all the rotten wood was replaced.

The smell will be coming from somewhere OP, it might just take you a while to find the source.

We live in an old cottage and the oldest part of the house has that smell as it’s earth-bedded (porous flagstones laid straight on soil, no foundations)…literally you are smelling the underground. I would imagine exposed stone could give a similar smell.