Home Reports & Dampness
Any home owner who has had to arrange a Home Property Report will want that report to reflect well on their property for sale so that it stands the best possible chance of selling at the highest price on the open market. It is obviously going to adversely affect the number of potential buyers and the sales price if there are any dampness in buildings or evidence of water problems shown on the home report.
For example if the home report states that there is any evidence of dampness in buildings then any potential buyer will worry about what may have caused water damage. Was it flood damage, a water leak or something else, like a worrying and persistent condensation problem? Does the property require damp proofing services and what would any water damage repair costs likely to be?
Those are reasonable questions that any potential home buyer would ask if the home report shows there is any evidence of water damage in the home report. However, the home owners may be able to challenge the home report findings.
Water Damage Surveys
Home reports are prepared by selling agents who are usually solicitors or estate agents. These agents are professional selling agents and they may well have experience in dealing with water damaged properties. The problem is that there may indeed have been evidence of damp walls or damp ceilings at the time of the home report survey but the accurate measurement of the moisture may not be ensured. The surveyor may have used a damp meter which has indicated the presence of moisture at the point the reading took place. However damp meters can show wrong readings in a variety of circumstances. But the surveyor may write something that they feel is appropriate, such as “The property appears to have dampness in two of the upstairs bedrooms” or something along those lines. A statement like that will, understandably, adversely affect the desirability of a property in the eyes of potential buyers. However, it should be noted that the phrase ‘appears to have’ is clearly not definitive. This causes confusion, concerns, anxiety and ultimately is easily likely to reduce the desirability of the property and its commercial sales value.
Confusion and Inexpert Opinions
The problem is that, unless the surveyor is also an expert in surveying and assessing dampness in buildings, they may well report that there being appears to be a dampness problem where there is actually no real cause for concern. Damp Meters are widely used however they are just one measurement tool in a variety of other more accurate water measurement systems available to a dampness specialist expert surveyor. Damp meters often record false positives (ie wrong readings) and these can find their way into a home report, effectively devaluing a property by means of incomplete assessment and generalised comments.
What Can Be Done?
Any home owner who finds their home report has indicated dampness in their property for sale can easily challenge this and call in an expert surveyor in moisture content within buildings. This can be used to either eradicate any actual dampness problem before the property is put on the market or to show the potential buyer that a full moisture survey has been carried out and that damp roofing contractors are not actually required. For example, the home report may have taken place on a day with high relative humidity and not long after someone has used the shower in an en-suite bathroom, causing temporary condensation on the wall of a bedroom. Home reports are not in-depth moisture content surveys.
The thing to remember is that a home report can be challenged with further expert opinions and supplementary reports to relieve any anxieties that a potential buyer may have from reading the original home report. This can be ver reassuring to property owners wanting to get a best possible price for a property where the home report has indicated a concern relating to evidence of dampness.
Paradigm Reinstatements is based in Central Scotland and is one of the UK’s leading experts relating to all forms of dampness in buildings, their causes, their severity and how to eradicate dampness and the causes of dampness in any property.
