House Buying Is More Stressful Than Divorce, Death or Bankruptcy

[emma_p]

Are they first time buyers, Toast? The house we bought had a few damp patches on the survey but they've been easily and cheaply fixed.

Our last house had no damp flagged on the survey but by the time we left we'd had a damp course done on every wall!

[nineseven]

My house has some damp too, none of which was flagged by the survey. Independent damp surveyors have wildly different opinions on the cause - it's something of a dark art. My builder has a very can-do attitude about it so I'm leaving it in his capable hands.

IME first-time buyers are hugely over-cautious. I had some bizarre requests when selling my flat.

[Toast]

Yep, first-time buyers. How did you guess?!

That's what I thought, nine (about it being a dark art).That's based on what I've read here really. I suppose I'll just have to go through the process and see what the report shows.

[Marth]

Can you see the damp?

[Toast]

No, I can't see it. It's supposedly in my bedroom and on the outside wall of my bedroom. I have the window open in there most of the time and don't dry laundry in there. There's rarely any condensation on the windows. The bathroom or the kitchen would have made more sense.

[Marth]

No, I can't see it. It's supposedly in my bedroom and on the outside wall of my bedroom. I have the window open in there most of the time and don't dry laundry in there. There's rarely any condensation on the windows. The bathroom or the kitchen would have made more sense.

I wonder how they can see damp on the outside? That doesn't make sense really. You could really see the damp in this place. (Well the surveyor couldn't see it or report it). The water tide marks, flapping paper and mould were a bit of a give away (not for the surveyor though) (you can tell I'm bitter lol)

[Toast]

It's possible (likely) I misunderstood about the outside wall. It was the EA that mentioned it to me. You're right though, it doesn't make sense.

I'm not surprised you're bitter about it!

[Estrella]

Does that mean you have a move in date now, Est?

My buyers have had their survey back and there is apparently some damp. I spoke to the surveyor when he came round and he said he'd noticed a couple of patches that needed to be highlighted but there was nothing out of the oridinary for a property of this age. Buyers are having a damp specialist come round so I expect the next step is going to be further negotiation on price

Yes, we always knew when settlement as that date is in the contract which is agrees up front. We get keys 10 days beforehand though so we can do a gradual move if need be to take the pressure off doing it all in one day.

[Mountain Goat]

When we bought this house, the survey found some damp and the mortgage lender made it a condition of the mortgage that we had it inspected and a pointless damp proof course injected (pointless because that's just their knee jerk thing: the damp came from a broken gutter, nothing to do with rising damp but they insisted). I think they do that a fair bit, so it might not be their fault.

Damp on the outside wall is fine isn't it? That's just...rain.

We still have bloody penetrating damp after doing everything. I have now pinpointed it to around a specific window frame, I THINK. I want to get it sorted once and for all before we put the house on the market but every time I think we've sorted it, it comes back.

[nineseven]

You do see exterior walls that are visibly damp. When my flat went back on the market this year, in the pics you could see the ground floor wall of the outside of the building had developed a huge damp patch. The bricks look darker.

[Toast]

This is all really interesting, thank you.

I expect I'll be back at some point to ask more questions once the damp report comes in.

In other news, I forgot to tell you that I went to see the house again at the weekend and I still love it, luckily! I think I might need to be a bit creative with the storage space in the kitchen and my plan to move the washing machine and tumble dryer upstairs might not work but I think it will all work out one way or another.

I managed to convince the vendor that she should take her weird walk-in wardrobes with her, as well as the massive bath so that was good

[Toast]

The damp specialist was here for about five minutes this morning and found only a small patch in the kitchen. He said it was so minor that he wasn't even sure whether to note it down. So that was worthwhile!

[Derek Nimmo]

That's brilliant! What a rarity.

[Estrella]

That’s excellent news, Toast.

We are part packed here and just wishing we could get it over and done with now. Just looking forward to this time next month when we will be in and have had time to unpack and settle.

[Toast]

It is good news, I should be pleased. I still just feel really eye-rolly about it.

Eye on the prize, Est!

[Derek Nimmo]

I bet you do, when the whole process feels like it's unnecessarily prolonged, the shine really goes.

Apparently me, my buyers and my sellers are all just waiting for local searches (oh, apart from the fact that my sellers are re-negotiating their price to reflect the fact that they need to do urgent work to the roof according to their survey, but their EA is confident that won't be an issue, having spoken to their sellers EA this week).

So we should know whether a move before Christmas or not is on the cards by the end of next week. Which is nice. But again, I'm suspicious as this has all been progressing too smoothly and quietly.

[Toast]

It does, you're right. I think we're supposed to be figuring out a date for exchange this week but I'm just not thinking about it as that seems to have been the case every week. It's 14 weeks today since we offered

In for Christmas would be good, eh? Even if it's just because things will inevitably slow down over then and the new year (any excuse).

[Marth]

The damp specialist was here for about five minutes this morning and found only a small patch in the kitchen. He said it was so minor that he wasn't even sure whether to note it down. So that was worthwhile!

Those poor buggers have paid about £400 for that. Glad it's nothing.

[Toast]

I wondered how much it would be.

Apparently I now need to have a fire risk assessment done. It's a legal requirement. Why am I only finding this out now, ffs?

[Derek Nimmo]

A what now? Nobody has mentioned this to me