£350 for a typical London house or flat - one dwelling, up to three storeys - booked online, with the written report included. The price does not change with the number of rooms affected. Independent London surveys published elsewhere run from about £200 to £400, and free surveys from damp-proofing companies are priced into the treatment they recommend. Blocks of flats, larger properties and commercial premises are quoted from the scope.

An in-person inspection of the affected rooms and the building fabric around them: moisture profiling of walls, floors and ceilings with calibrated meters, the external defects and services that can supply water - roof, gutters, ground levels, plumbing - and the ventilation and heating pattern where condensation is suspected. The report, within 48-72 hours, gives the cause, annotated photographs, the readings, and a prioritised repair order you can forward to a contractor, landlord, lender or solicitor. Flats are surveyed as standard, including the common parts that affect them.

Rising damp shows as a tide mark on a ground-floor wall up to about a metre high, often with white salt deposits and crumbling plaster, and it is there in summer as well as winter. Condensation shows as black mould on cold surfaces - window reveals, corners, behind furniture, bathrooms - worse in cold weather and often on upper floors too. Penetrating damp tracks a defect: it worsens after rain and sits below a gutter, a chimney or a cracked wall. The survey confirms which by moisture profiling and, where needed, salt analysis, because the three need completely different repairs.

Yes, but it is far less common than the damp-proofing industry suggests. Most low-level damp in London properties is caused by condensation, defective gutters and downpipes, high external ground levels bridging the damp-proof course, blocked sub-floor ventilation or plumbing leaks - and chemical damp-proof courses have been widely sold to treat conditions that were never rising damp. An independent survey with no treatment to sell is how you find out which you have before any work is specified.

It can be. The NHS says people living with damp and mould are more likely to have respiratory problems, respiratory infections, allergies or asthma, and that mould can affect the immune system. Babies and children, older people, anyone with asthma, allergies or eczema, and people with weakened immune systems are the most sensitive and should stay away from it. Wiping mould off treats the symptom; the NHS advice is to find out why there is excess moisture in the home - which is what the survey does.

On site, a typical London house or flat takes around one and a half to two and a half hours; larger or more complex properties take longer. Appointments are booked online for the next available slot, and the written report follows within 48-72 hours of the visit. Where a purchase deadline or a landlord's investigation timescale is running, say so at booking and the visit is prioritised.

Only access. Clear a route to the affected walls where you can - furniture pulled a little way out, wardrobes and cupboards openable - and make sure the loft hatch, any cellar or under-floor access, and the stopcock and meter cupboards are reachable. Nothing needs cleaning or painting beforehand; in fact, leave the mould and staining as they are, because they are evidence. If you rent, tell the landlord or agent the survey is happening.

Usually, yes. Landlords in England must keep the structure, exterior and installations in repair (Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11) and keep the home fit to live in, including free from damp and mould that could cause serious harm (Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018). Where condensation comes from a property that is hard to heat, poorly ventilated or badly insulated, that is the landlord's to fix - and under current guidance a landlord should not simply blame the tenant's lifestyle. An independent survey settles the question with evidence: moisture readings, the cause, and whose defect it is, written to be put in front of a landlord, agent, council or solicitor.

For council and housing association tenants in England, Awaab's Law has applied since 27 October 2025: the landlord must investigate significant damp and mould within 10 working days of becoming aware, give you a written summary within 3 working days of the investigation ending, and make the home safe within 5 working days of that - 24 hours for an emergency hazard. Private tenants are not yet covered by those timescales; the government opened a consultation on extending them in October 2026, and until then private landlords must act within a reasonable time under the existing repairing and fitness duties. If the cause is unclear, the landlord is expected to arrange a survey.

Treat it as a question, not an answer. A RICS Home Survey rates damp as Condition Rating 2 or 3 and recommends a specialist report, but it rarely says what is causing it or what it will cost - and the vendor's damp-proofing quote will not tell you either. An independent damp and mould survey before exchange gives you the cause, the moisture readings and a costed repair order you can use to renegotiate the price, ask the vendor to repair, or walk away. If you want the whole property re-assessed as well, the RICS Home Survey here includes the damp diagnosis in the same visit.

Yes. The report records what was inspected, the moisture readings, the cause, photographs and the repair sequence, and it carries no treatment quotation - which is what lenders, solicitors, managing agents, councils and tribunals look for in an independent report. It is written to be forwarded as it stands. Surveys are carried out by PCA-certificated surveyors with professional indemnity insurance in place.

Because it is not free - it is priced into the treatment it recommends, and some firms say so openly by deducting the survey fee from the cost of works. That is why rising damp is diagnosed far more often than it occurs and why chemical damp-proof courses get injected into walls that needed a gutter fixed. Damp Surveyor Near Me carries out no remedial work. The survey is paid for by the diagnosis, so a condensation problem is reported as condensation, a leak as a leak, and a sound wall as sound.