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  • HomeBuyer Report on a flat we're buying has come back saying that "Significant rising dampness was noted within the property and remedial works are required". Almost everything I'm seeing online seems to suggest that 'rising damp' is a myth. How concerned do I need to be?

    Any recommendations on next steps? Or for specialists in East that would take an honest look at it without trying to sell me a damp proofing course I don't need?

  • Mortgage dependant on it? If yes, I'd look for an independent surveyor, PCA is a crock but it does list these as well. Expect it to cost ~£350.
    Did they list the findings that showed damp?

  • How concerned do I need to be?

    There's probably a source of it - breached DPC or shitty guttering or similar.

  • Any recommendations on next steps?

    Call surveyor. Ask questions. What is the cause? If unknown, what potential causes can be eliminated? What remedial works do they think are appropriate?

    Do you know any builder type people? Get them in to take a look. Don’t get a specialist in until you’ve exhausted all other avenues of assessing the cost + risk of putting it right. Which in a flat is particularly difficult due to the split responsibilities freeholder/leaseholder etc

  • This is no real help to you but we were in a similar position, and we got DPC done. We were a bit clueless and It was only after we had it done that I saw people online saying it was a load of rubbish peddled by crooks. The house had all of the windows painted shut, no heating apart from 2 gas fires, has no damp proof course and the joists are straight onto soil in a lot of places.

    I still don't know if it was the right thing to do, and there is just no point in worrying about it, now it's done. I'm not even really sure what the other options would have been.

  • Whether rising damp is a myth doesn't really matter that much - if there's damp, there's damp, and it's caused by moisture getting in somewhere.

    The hard part is finding out where, as you may need to move flooring, remove render, or dig holes.

    Specialists tend to say you need to inject magic foams into your walls, and charge you a few thousand. Then you have damp & fucked walls.

    Try the obvious culprits first (gutters, holes, drains etc...), then move onto the harder bits - breached / damaged DPCs, or condensation.

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