It is common, it does not mean the house is a bad buy, and it can usually be sorted within a week or so. Here is what to do, in order.
Your surveyor found signs of damp they could not explain from a visual inspection, so they have recommended a specialist finds the cause before you commit. It is a very common recommendation. It does not mean the house is a bad buy, and it does not mean there is a big bill coming. It means nobody knows yet.
What to do: book an independent damp survey promptly, from someone who does not sell damp treatments, and keep the agent and your solicitor in the loop so the timetable allows for it. The damp survey answers the points your surveyor raised and tells you the cause, the extent and, for a buyer, roughly what the work might cost.
Find every place your survey mentions damp, high readings, condensation, salts, timber or ventilation. Those paragraphs are what the damp survey needs to answer.
The earlier it is booked once your survey is back, the more room there is in the timetable. A buyer's damp survey can usually be done within the week.
The agent arranges access with the seller. Your solicitor will want to know there is a survey still to come.
You get the cause, the extent and what will fix it. What you do with that, and when, is your decision.
Somebody who finds the cause and has nothing to sell you afterwards. Many damp surveys, including free ones, are carried out by companies that also sell damp proofing, and a survey that ends in a quote for that company's own work is not the same thing as an independent answer. It may be perfectly honest, but when you are about to buy a house it is worth knowing the difference.
Ask whoever you book three things: do you carry out the remedial work, do you take commission from anyone who does, and will your report answer the points my surveyor raised one by one. We carry out no remedial work, sell no products and take no commission from anyone who does the repairs, and we do not recommend contractors.
For a buyer, the survey is our Pre-Purchase Damp Survey, the Whole Property Survey with Costings, at £500 fixed, nothing to pay to book. The written report is ready within 24 hours of the survey, released when payment clears, and Rory then calls you to talk it through.
You can see a real one, anonymised with the client's permission: example pre-purchase report (PDF). More on the survey itself: Pre-Purchase Damp Survey.
Vigilant Surveys is an independent damp and mould surveying practice covering East Anglia, North London and the West Midlands. We carry out no remedial work, sell no products and take no commission from anyone who does the repairs, so there is nothing to sell you afterwards.
Every survey includes thermal imaging, moisture readings against a dry control and hygrometer readings, and you get a clear written report within 24 hours of the visit. £350 for the problem areas, £450 for the whole property, fixed prices, no payment to book.
If your Level 2 or Level 3 survey has recommended one, yes, because the surveyor is telling you there is something they could not resolve on the day. Damp readings on their own do not tell you whether the problem is a small repair or a big job, and you want to know which before you commit.
Not necessarily. It means your surveyor saw signs of damp they could not explain from a visual inspection. Many turn out to be condensation, a gutter, a leak or ground levels outside, which are often straightforward to fix. The damp survey tells you which.
Usually the buyer, because the report is written for the person who books it. If the seller has their own damp report, it was written for them, and it may have been done by a company that sells treatments.
Not if it is booked promptly. We can usually attend within the week and the report is ready within 24 hours of the survey. We do not time anything to an exchange date, so the earlier you book once your survey is back, the better.
A guarantee covers the treatment that was done, on the terms written in it. It does not tell you whether the damp you can see now has the same cause. An independent survey finds the cause as it stands today.
No. A full building survey covers the whole property's condition and generally will not take moisture readings in the detail needed to diagnose a specific damp problem, which is why building surveys so often end with a recommendation to get a damp specialist in. The damp survey answers that recommendation. You need both.
Ours is £500, a fixed fee anywhere we cover, with nothing to pay to book. That includes the inspection, thermal imaging, moisture readings, the measured defects with indicative costs, the written report and a call with Rory afterwards.
No payment to book. Tell me what you are seeing and I will call you straight back, usually within a couple of hours, to arrange a visit and confirm the fixed price.
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