Water damage to inherited house- repair or sell as is?

[Semele5069]

Hello

I inherited my parent’s house which I was clearing of possessions with a plan to sell. Unfortunately during the last storm a pipe burst and there was water damage over the course of a few days before this was discovered (I do not live nearby and was not aware the water was on). There have been a couple of industrial dehumidifiers in the house to dry it out and it is being aired in good weather lately.

A metre squared section of the kitchen ceiling has fallen through directly where the burst pipe was and 2 of the rooms had very wet carpets and patches of black mould growing on the wallpaper. Also the fascia on one side of the house was discovered to be rotten (longer term issue) and will need replacing.

Ideally I want the house sold asap and had been planning to get a valuation before the is happened. A quick sale (mostly) takes priority over maximising profit. Any advice on my next steps?

I was thinking of getting a specialist deep clean (once it is as dry as possible) to at least improve the current aesthetics before the valuation. Would a deep clean of the carpets do or would they need to be removed? Can mould be cleaned from wallpaper? Due to not living nearby and having small children it is not possible for me to do any of this myself so I will need to get professional help.

Do I need a specialist survey of the water damage/cost of repair or is that something a valuation could cover?

Who do I actually look for? All specialist surveys I can see online are to do with providing an insurance report which is not relevant here. Similarly the only valuations I can find are by estate agents and I am planning for a likely private sale to a relative so would not be using their service.

Apologies if these are basic questions but I have no familiarity with the process of selling, there is quite a lot of grief around the whole situation and I am finding it very stressful trying to manage this from a a distance so would appreciate any guidance!

Thank you

I would claim on house insurance and get it fixed but obviously that will slow things down.
You can sell it as it is but it will probably mean that it's unmortgagable (if there is no kitchen) so if you want to sell it will have to be sold at auction.

You are selling and want a quick sale over the highest price.

I would get it to dryed out and get it sold.

Go to an EA first and ask them for a valuation that you pay for rather than enter into a contract to market the property.

Get them to give you a price on how much it will sell for as is and as a fixer-upper on the open market and how much if you deep cleaned changed the wallpaper and replaced the carpet with cheap flooring without it being made look pretty.

Then as the relative how much they are willing to pay for it as is and how fast they can close the deal.

If the 2 numbers are close enough move to sell
l asap.

I would remove the carpets today. They will have absorbed a huge amount of water. If you want to keep them, at the very least they need lifting to dry out themselves, dry out the floor underneath and then inspect said floor.

My house that I owned was water damaged by burst pipes when my wanker of an ex husband left the house empty & turned off the heating so pipes frozen. The water brought down ceilings & by the time I found out the walls had turned black with mould. I ended up having all the ceilings recorded & everything skimmed, we hired industrial dehumidifiers to dry everything out & had the carpets shampooed so I could sell the house.

@Geneticsbunny thank you. Forgot to say it’s not covered by insurance as it was vacant for long periods! Which is why I’m even less keen to put my own money into repairs.

@AnSolas thank you! This was more or less my original plan then read an estate agent couldn’t meaningfully assess the damage and I’d need a surveyor so got confused. I suppose they’re still the best place to start and would be able to advise anyway.

Get vacant property insurance now before anything else happens!

@TheSandgroper thank you. Yes, think I’ll get my partner to go do that as he’d be able to go by himself and get more done. It’s pricey to travel there and he’d only have a weekend as he’s self employed so hates taking longer off and losing money!

@Nat6999 what a nightmare! Would you mind giving me an idea what all that cost? I know it could be completely different but I have absolutely no idea what the ballpark is even!

Oh heck! Get the carpets removed asap, they will never dry out. Then the industrial dehumidifiers alternating with open windows until it’s all dry, then a good clean and sell cheap as a project.

@Semele5069 Send DP with N95 masks, goggles, gloves and overalls. Mould in the lungs is no joke. Also, litres of vinegar and sponges and slosh everywhere liberally as it is the cheapest and most efficient mould killer. Then sugar soap. And more vinegar. Also wash overalls in vinegar afterwards.

You say your partner is self employed. Is he good at practical stuff? If you are selling and can afford for him to focus on the house for a couple of weeks then maybe he could sort trades to tackle the issue with the ceiling and get the house dry and relatively presentable. Is that an option? Presumably you will benefit from the house sale to recoup any loss of earnings?

Sounds like a good plan. If I can get my partner over asap he could take up the carpets in the affected rooms. Apparently the dehumidifiers that have been in have done a good job so far so it’s really just a clean up needed before I could get an estate agent to give their opinion I think. Thank you!

Fab, that’s really useful! Thanks!

Unfortunately that wouldn’t work (would be ideal though!). He’s a dog walker so has customers every day and if he was away for too long they’d just have to go with someone else, so it would be too much of a risk. It’s been enough of a battle getting him to take a summer and Christmas break with loads of notice! He could get for a long weekend but we’re trying to get a sense of whether that would be enough and if it would be any more cost efficient than getting professional cleaners in.