Stuart Noble wrote:
Chris Styles wrote:
Hi,

A friend is looking to buy a Victorian Terraced house, and it doesn't
have a
damp course.

After spinning her an elaborate story about having the entire house
sliced
out of the terrace and lifted up on blocks while a damp course is
fitted, I
promised to ask around to find out how much she should expect to pay
to have
a chemical DPC done.

I seem to recall someone else having the chemical DPC, and it requiring a
certain amount of replastering to be done after, because the plaster
had to
be stripped back at the bottom of the wall. Is this normal (or even
anything
to do with the DPC?)

I think it's almost a given that if they inject a DPC, in order to offer
the magic and worthless guarantee which is required to satisfy the
lender, it will be required to rip off the bottom metre of plaster back
to the brickwork, and replace with Special sand/cement-based plaster.
Hell of a mess.

Unless there are damp problems that you can conclusively attribute to
rising damp (which would be unusual), leave well alone, and tell any
mortgage lender that you'll go elsewhere if they're not happy with that.

I totally agree with the sentiments but she'll end up in just the same
situation with any other mortgage lender (paying an arrangment/valuation
fee each time) will the possible exception of a specialist lender who
deals in and understands period properties, but are unlikely to be able
to match the mortgage deals offered by the big boys.

David