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Survey finding

Dry rot on your survey: how serious is it?

Serious

Dry rot is the most serious timber-decay fungus. This page covers identification, cost of treatment, and when to walk away.

Last updated: 6 May 2026. Editorially reviewed: 20 May 2026.

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Finding

Dry rot (Serpula lacrymans)

Serious

What this usually means

Dry rot is a fungal attack on timber that occurs in damp, poorly ventilated conditions. Unlike wet rot, dry rot can spread through masonry to find new timber, and is therefore taken seriously. Visible signs: orange-brown fruiting bodies, white mycelium strands, cuboidal cracking of timber.

Why it matters

An active dry rot outbreak requires source control (fix the moisture ingress), removal of affected timber with a margin, and timber treatment. Lenders take it seriously.

Ask your surveyor

  • Check:Is the outbreak active or historic?
  • Check:Have you identified the moisture source?

Ask the seller

  • Check:Has the property had any damp or timber treatment, with guarantees?
  • Check:Is the area where the outbreak was found regularly inspected?

Next steps

  • •Get two written quotes from local trades before negotiating with the seller.
  • •Speak to your mortgage broker before exchanging if the finding affects mortgageability.

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What you need to know

Severity

4/ 5

Serious. Lender and insurer involvement likely; structural or specialist remediation.

Typical cost to fix

Specialist survey £200-£600. Localised outbreak treatment £1,500-£4,000. Extensive outbreak with structural timber replacement £8,000-£20,000+.

Mortgage impact

Lender retention until treatment is complete with guarantee. Most insist on PCA-member firms.

Insurance impact

Generally excluded as a maintenance issue, though source-event damage may be covered.

When to pull out

Walk away if dry rot is extensive and the seller refuses to fund treatment, or if structural timbers are extensively compromised.

When to renegotiate, and by how much

Quoted treatment cost plus 20% buffer; typical reductions £3,000-£15,000+.

Thinking of pulling out or renegotiating? What to do after a bad survey

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Editorial review

Editorial owner: BiteRight Ltd, operator of MyPropertyScan. We review buyer guides against UK public property datasets, RICS survey wording, lender requirements, and common buyer questions.

Pages are updated when source coverage, property-risk guidance, survey cost assumptions, or product checks materially change. Methodology and dataset limitations are explained on the MyPropertyScan methodology page.

Sources used

We use UK public and specialist sources where they are available. Public datasets can be incomplete, delayed, or missing for some addresses. Treat them as a starting point, not as a replacement for professional advice.

Source standard: preference goes to official government datasets, statutory bodies, professional standards, and primary dataset publishers. We cite the source family on the page and explain coverage limits rather than filling gaps with unsupported estimates.

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