MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
I've moved into my girlfriend's house. Just in time for some big bills! Haha - F ME!
She lives in a ground floor flat with another flat above. It used to be a large two storey detached house that was split into an upstair and downstair flat. However, since then more flats have been built that join on to one side.
According to upstairs folks there is a big issue with the roof, that they have had a £40k quote for repairs. Something to do with having to block a main road to put the scaffolding up (the house goes directly on to a pretty busy A road).
I don't have much more info on that, but essentially she (and now, me) are on the hook for half of it. I'll be investigating that a bit further.
But now, to the crux of the matter.
Damp.
Girilfriend's house has major damp problems that come in two forms. She's had a specialist damp contactor come in to take readings etc.
1. Rising damp across almost every exterior wall.
2. Penetrating damp coming through an exterior wall. Upstairs flat access through an exterior stair that has outbuildings under it. These outbuildings (which belong to upstairs flat) have been left to rot - had issues with gutters etc - the damp is coming through from there. She had someone come in to do repairs to the floors a couple of years ago as the joists were collapsing. This cost her about £7k, but they've not properly damp proofed it and the damp is back and the floorboards are on their way out again.
Damp contractor is estimating £15-20k to fix this.
So, my question is - are upstairs liable for any of the damp costs in the same way we're liable for half of the roof? The rising damp is on also on the walls shared with the flats next door. Would they be liable at all?
Depends on the deeds. Usually all repairs are shared but not always
Assuming she owns rather than rents? Will be as set out in the deeds
Check the deeds.
Also get your own quotes for the roof repairs.
I'd as a minimum want to to see the 40k quote to make sure they are actually paying their 'half'
IANAR but I reckon 40 grand would be a full roof replacement, and a big one at that.
£40k for a roof is a lot, is there no space at the back to put scaffold?
More than a couple of joist ends rotting from penetrating damp is heavy duty, as is rising in the walls, this is serious ingress from every direction, bad enough to consider stripping out really.
As already mentioned the title deeds will give liabilities but the upstairs neighbours need to consider that left unfixed it will eventually reach them, if the building is damp it affects them too, something is wrong at foundation level(and roof obs) to cause this, no point in replacing floor joists and not fixing that.
Liability depends entirely on what it says on the deeds / lease agreement.
At those sorts of figures I would give serious consideration to hiring a lawyer.
She’s had a specialist damp contactor come in to take readings etc.
1. Rising damp across almost every exterior wall.
Nu-huh.
Get a second opinion.
Thanks for the info guys! My girlfriend really isn't dealing with this well, she's really upset. I also found out she was almost signing on to remortgage the house for another £50k and was just going to pay everyone!
But we had a chat, and:
Title deeds are going to get dug out and deciphered
Arrange a proper talk with the upstairs neighbour to get their take on everything
Two further quotes for the damp in the flat
Two further roofing quotes (and yes, the £40k seemed like a new roof to me, I was thinking £20k would seem more likely...)
Bill just being split between you and upstairs, are the flats to the side essentially separate with unaffected roof?
The only damp survey worth reading is one done by an independent paid surveyor that is unconnected with a damp firm.
I would be really suspicious of any rising damp diagnosis. It's more likely to be a ventilation issue or water penetration during rain
If the house is old "damp meters" will go off everywhere especially near old chimney breasts
As above check deeds.
We had an issue earlier in the year and it pretty much came down to shared costs for it all. Downstairs would be in trouble if we left roof leaks for years, we would be in trouble if downstairs rotted away beneath us. Only part not shared was dorma windows roof.
Now need to check deeds again as neighbour want to convert garage upstairs to a flat and Airbnb but roof not great and I'm damned if I'm forking out £5k so they can make money.
Find out exactly what is wrong with the existing roof. Get a drone up there and have a good mooch around.
Check drainpipes, guttering, collectors etc for leaks.
Rising damp can be cured with injection chemicals dpc.
How well is it ventilatied though? Shower and kitchen make alot of water vapour although this is unlikely to rot flooring, window sills and blow plaster, yes it will
How about external drainage and run off, soak aways clear? Dpm breached by raised beds or footpaths.
Are all the windows sealed properly, good silicone all around edges, etc
Does the front door fit its frame, if there's a gale blowing in then water will be carried in with it and under the door sill.
I'm guessing from your previous posts that you are in Scotland? If so, this is laid out in the tenement act. I live in a shared building and there is nothing in the deeds, so it defers to the tenement act. Roof, foundations and external walls all shared responsibility.
We had damp issues in the kitchen recently- gutters, pointing, ventilation, ground water run off seemed to be the issues. I would try and get a decent builder to inspect it before paying a damp company
I’d want to see the quote for the roof before agreeing to pay anything on that. Ok, the scaffolding sounds like it might be complicated, but we’ve just had our roof done (new tiles / slates, underfelt, insulation and 2x new skylights) for less than half the figure they’re giving, and that was the most expensive quote we had by quite some margin.
I was going to say the same thing as @stealthcat - mainly because it's the same roof! £40k is a bloody mansions worth!
Damp. Funnily enough, damproofing companies are very good at finding damp they can "fix". Unless there's always been damp since the house was built (unlikely), then damp is merely a symptom, not the underlying cause. Something will have changed around the house, or in how its used. Is it well enough ventilated? Is the damp proof course above ground level all round the house and not bridged by render etc? Are there any drains or waterpipes locally that may have sprung a leak? What's the pointing like? Any chimneys that are either open to the elements or fully sealed so suffering condensation? If it's suspended floors - what's the ventilation to the underfloor void like?
As there's new buildings next door - are they properly thought about/constructed or is it they who have the problem, and the connection with your house is bridging your DPC?
I don't know how old your place is, but my experience of old houses is that generally the builders understood their materials very well and built stuff that worked, even if it's not done the modern way. Faff around with their ideas and it'll generally come back and bite you.
I would be really suspicious of any rising damp diagnosis. It’s more likely to be a ventilation issue or water penetration during rain
If the house is old “damp meters” will go off everywhere especially near old chimney breasts
This is usually true, most damp I see from below is very easy fixed, blocked drains, water trapped by high ground levels on the outside compared to in, older stone houses are just stone, air bricks backed up with earth and so on, spade work essentially, one blocked downpipe or broken gutter and pour a ton of water into a crack and cause serious damp.
Newer houses with cavity insulation or badly built with a low DPM can happen though.I'd get a decent local builder to look at it, costs nothing, they will tell you what's going on with the founds and what is needed.