Can You Sell a House with Damp?

The process of selling a house can be stressful enough when everything is in full working order—never mind when damp and mould enter the fray. 

It might feel like bad news to have a damp problem weighing you down, but the good news is that you can still legally sell and, in some cases, the damp won’t be an issue.

While we’re not experts in damp proofing, we are experts in helping people like you sell your house fast, so let’s dive into our guide to offloading a house with damp and see what you could do next.

Table of Contents

• Do you have to disclose damp when selling a house?

• How much does damp devalue a house?

• How to sell a house with damp

Do you have to disclose damp when selling a house?

While there is no law in place to prevent you from selling a house with damp, you are legally obliged to disclose the problem during the sale—you’ll usually be asked on the TA6 form you’ll fill out as part of the conveyancing process. This is designed to collect all the necessary information about a property so the buyer has full visibility of the condition, the history and the potential work they might need to put into it.

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) hold sellers and any agents, such as estate or letting agents and developers, to account for things like damp issues when selling a property. If they are found to have misled a buyer about any existing problems, they are in the firing line for fines from regulatory bodies like The Property Ombudsman (TPO) and legal action from the buyer.

What happens when you don’t disclose damp?

Dishonesty about damp doesn’t lead to a slap on the wrist—it can lead to Trading Standards bringing charges against the selling agent, which is exactly what happened to Dacre Son & Hartley Ltd in 2002. 

The estate agent was prosecuted under Section 1(1) of the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 for intentionally lying about the presence of damp in a Skipton property. The prospective buyer was misled about why previous sales had fallen through and verbally told that there were no problems with damp, despite the fact that they’d received reports to the contrary in July and August the previous year.

Read more: Dacre Son & Hartley Ltd vs North Yorkshire Trading Standards

How much does damp devalue a house?

Many sellers are understandably concerned about damp reducing the value of their properties—sadly, it’s led some to lie about it to avoid a decrease in asking price, but the consequences of such lies can be far worse than the reality of facing up to the issues.

There’s a bit of a sliding scale when it comes to devaluation from damp, as it depends on the type of damp, its severity and how widespread it is across the property.

Minor cases of untreated damp might lead to a 5-10% decrease in value inside a year, according to a timeline put together by Damp and Mould Solutions. This can rise to 20-30% over five years or more than 50% over 10 years, literally halving the value of a house.

The devaluation often comes down to how much repairs can cost, from treating condensation to getting ahead of rising damp before it causes catastrophic damage to the structural integrity of the property. 

A buyer on the open market faced with a £20,000 bill to fix damp issues will naturally either negotiate at least that amount off the asking price or walk away. Each scenario is different, but it could be in the seller’s best interest to pay for the fix themselves before putting the house on the market.

The longer damp is ignored, the more difficult it can become to sell a house in the traditional way, so it’s important to weigh the cost of repairs against the potential devaluation over time. Sellers should also bear in mind that they don’t always need to fix damp issues to sell a house—let’s take a look at your options.

How to sell a house with damp

If you’re trying to sell a house with damp, you shouldn’t be disheartened by the possible reduction in its value. It’s the reality that many sellers face today, as many of the properties in the UK are close to or even over 100 years old. Damp can be expected in a property of that age and many buyers should be aware of that.

You still have perfectly viable options for selling your damp house without taking a big hit on its value.

Fix the damp problem

Of course, if you are in a position to pay for the fix yourself before you try to sell on the open market, you might be able to put yourself in a stronger position with a prospective buyer. 

You will still need to disclose the fact that there was a damp problem and you fixed it, but you can talk through this when choosing an estate agent to help you sell. Buyers will need to know and might still ask for a reduction in price, while the risk of the damp making a return still looms large, too, so it is a punt.

Reduce the asking price

Another option if you need to press ahead with a sale is to bite the bullet and reduce your asking price. Depending on the type of damp and the cost of prospective repairs, you will likely need to drop it by a fair amount. 

Be prepared to negotiate here—any buyer made aware of the presence of damp is more likely to ask for more to be knocked off, so it might take longer to find the right buyer.

A good option for getting around this when selling a damp house is to put it up for auction, as you’ll be marketing it to people who are looking for a project that way—they might not be as put off by the damp issues. Use our guide to choose an online auction site for you to get started on your research.

Sell it as it is

Naturally, being transparent with a prospective buyer is only going to stand you in good stead, but it’s understandable that you’ll be worried about this knocking too much off the asking price.

Selling on the open market isn’t your only option here, though—you can sell to a cash buyer instead and you often don’t need to do anything to the property to offload it.

The worry doesn’t really apply when you sell to a cash buyer like The Property Buying Company, as we’re not in the market for awkward conversations and negotiations. Damp or no damp, we can offer you a fair price for your house and help you sell it in as little as seven days.

Get in touch for your free cash offer today and be sure to check out our reviews on Trustpilot to see how other customers got on, such as Fynn Benjamin here: