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Howard
Many thanks for your comments, @Grumpy_Git, @TW, @Jameo, @jellybaby and @jackbepablo - very helpful and reassuring. I've done some more watching and reading on the subject this morning as well, and that has helped.
There are quite a few waste pipes on the wall where there is damp at ground level, so I will give those an extra level of scrutiny now to make sure none of them are leaking and causing the damp. 2 of the 3 spots are either side of the front door, so I wonder whether it's something to do with that?
It sounds like a lot of people in the past have inadvertently made these problems worse by trying to solve them rather than just letting the walls breather. One article I read said that people trying to over-insulate older properties to reduce their heating bills has caused problems in many cases.
This is interesting to me, because another concern was the EPC certificate. It's currently F and apparently could be C. Main areas for improvement are to add insulation to cavity walls and the roof. The place had a loft conversion in 2017 and apparently there's minimal insulation in the roof, which is a decision on the part of the current owner that I can't understand. Anyway, it'll likely be quite a few years before we even start to look at insulation or whether there's anything we can do with the damp, as we'll be relatively cash poor for the first couple of years due to combination of childcare costs and interest rates.