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Penetrating damp: establishing the entry point and whose repair it is
In a house, penetrating damp is a repair. In a London flat it is usually an argument, because the water enters through part of a building that the person with the damp does not own. Our reports are instructed to settle that: where the water gets in, the route it takes, and which part of the structure it passes through.
Why the entry point matters more than the damp
- Water entering at parapet or roof level can appear three floors down and two flats along
- Roofs, parapets, valley gutters, external walls and communal stacks are usually the freeholder's repair
- What is inside your demise is usually yours, and the boundary is where the dispute sits
- Managing agents act on documented defects far more readily than on complaints
- Without evidence, the discussion is one leaseholder's word against another's
The London entry points
Parapets and valley gutters on mansion blocks and converted houses, which are shared, out of sight and rarely cleared. Water entering there travels through the structure and emerges wherever it first meets a surface, which is commonly several floors below and often not directly beneath.
The junction where a rear or side extension roof meets the original brickwork, which is the most productive single defect in London's converted terraces. Shallow chases, low upstands and ponding outlets look acceptable and fail in driving rain.
Then the envelope itself: blown or cracked stucco holding water against brick, failed pointing, slipped hanging tiles, and lightwell and basement drainage that has not been lifted in years. In converted buildings, boxed in soil and rainwater stacks add a further path that is invisible until something is opened up.
What the report establishes
Where the water is entering, supported by external inspection and photographs rather than inference. The internal pattern and the calibrated readings that connect the entry point to the damage. The route between the two, so far as it can be determined without opening up, and where opening up is required, exactly where and how little of it.
Which element of the building the water passes through, described in the terms a lease uses: roof, parapet, main structure, common parts, demised area. We do not interpret your lease, and we do not need to. What we supply is the physical fact the lease has to be applied to, which is the part that is usually missing.
Why an independent practice
A report produced by a contractor who would carry out the repair is discounted by the party being asked to pay for it, whether or not that is fair. ATi carries out no remedial work of any kind, takes no commission and recommends no contractors, so there is nothing in the conclusion for us.
That matters most in exactly the situations where these reports get used: service charge disputes, leaseholder and freeholder disagreements, pre purchase negotiation and housing disrepair. The report is written on the assumption that somebody will be looking for reasons to reject it.
Establish where the water is getting in
An independent survey and a written report within 24 hours of the visit, with the readings, photographs and the entry point recorded. Put your postcode in the form and we will confirm cover and fee the same day.
Book a surveyOr call 020 3355 4944.
Questions
Water is coming into our flat from the common parts. What do we do?
Get the path documented before the argument hardens. Roofs, parapets, valley gutters, external walls and communal stacks are normally the freeholder's responsibility and funded through the service charge, but that only helps once it is established that the water is actually coming from there. Our report records the entry point and the route with readings and photographs, which is what turns a complaint into a repair instruction.
Our managing agent says there is no evidence of a leak. Now what?
That is usually true in the narrow sense that nobody has looked properly, and it is what an independent inspection is for. Parapets, valley gutters and roof junctions cannot be assessed from the ground or from inside a flat, and they are where this water almost always originates. A report that records the condition of those elements, with photographs, removes the basis for saying no evidence exists.
Do you determine who is legally responsible?
No, and you should be wary of anyone who says they do without reading the lease. We establish the physical facts: where water enters, what it passes through and where it emerges, described in the same terms a lease uses. Applying the lease to those facts is a matter for you or your solicitor, and it is far easier to do once the facts are not in dispute.