Walk into a house that reeks of damp, pets or cigarette smoke.
That smell just wiped thousands off your property value.
I’ve bought properties where the odour hit me before I reached the front door. Most sellers underestimate how much this affects their sale price.
I’m Saif Derzi, founder of Property Buyers Today. Since 2015, I’ve purchased properties with every odour problem you can imagine.
This guide shows you how to tackle smell issues before selling. You’ll learn which odours you can fix cheaply and which ones require serious investment.
Most importantly, I’ll reveal when it makes more sense to sell as-is rather than spend thousands on remediation.
- How Bad Smells Impact Property Sales and Valuations
- Options for Selling a Property with Smell Problems
- Disclosure Obligations for Properties with Bad Odours
- Identifying and Eliminating Common Odour Sources
- The Effect of Bad Smells on Viewings and Buyer Response
- Challenges Selling Properties with Persistent Smells
- Selling Your Property with Odour Issues to Property Buyers Today
How Bad Smells Impact Property Sales and Valuations
Bad smells can kill property sales instantly.
Some buyers walk out of viewings within minutes when homes smell bad. Damp creates musty odours. Pet smells soak into carpets and walls. Cigarette smoke sticks to everything. Blocked drains stink. Mould gives off horrible smells, too.
I’ve watched buyers refuse to even look upstairs after smelling something nasty downstairs. Your nose stops noticing smells you live with daily, but visitors smell them immediately.
Common smell problems:
- Damp and mould
- Pet urine in carpets
- Cigarette smoke damage
- Drain issues
Bad odours cut thousands off your value. Buyers think smells mean bigger hidden problems. They’re often right. Damp smells signal water damage. Drain odours mean plumbing faults.
Temporary smells from cooking or bins are easy fixes. Deep-seated odours from years of smoking or pet damage cost serious money to remove. Buyers demand huge price cuts or walk away.
Surveyors flag smell sources in reports. Damp and mould create health risks that mortgage lenders hate.
Selling a house with bad smell problems through estate agents becomes nearly impossible. Cash buyers offer faster solutions without requiring odour-free homes.
Options for Selling a Property with Smell Problems
Here are the 3 primary methods to sell your property when odour problems exist…
Estate Agents
The traditional route creates significant obstacles for houses with bad odours:
- Average sale duration: 6-12 months (extended timeframe – buyers are immediately put off by unpleasant smells)
- Many sales fall through when purchasers notice odour issues during viewings
- You need agents willing to market odour-affected properties and manage buyer expectations
- You’ll encounter these costs:
- Agent commissions (up to 3%)
- Solicitor fees (up to £4,000)
- Professional deep cleaning services (£500-£2,000)
- Odour neutralization treatments (£300-£1,500)
- Redecoration to help mask issues (£1,000-£5,000)
- Limited buyers interested in properties with persistent odours
Property Buyers Today
When bad odours make your property challenging to market:
- We can complete within just 7 days
- No financing difficulties or cleaning requirements needed
- What you gain:
- No agent fees
- We handle legal costs
- No property viewings – we buy odour-affected houses as they stand
- No cleaning expenses – we manage odour removal ourselves
- We understand odour problems and remediation methods
- Completion date you can depend on
- Trade-off: Obtain up to 85% of property value (frequently better after treatment costs and lengthy delays)
Specialist cash house buyers like Property Buyers Today understand bad odour complications and handle all arrangements.
Property Auction
Auctioning attracts purchasers who deal with odour-affected properties:
- Duration: 3-4 months
- Sale finalises instantly when gavel drops
- Important factors:
- Property sold as-is – bidders notice odours during viewings
- Attracts renovators and property developers
- Perfect for refurbishment projects – draws suitable buyers
- Odour will be evident during auction viewing days
- Wait 4-8 weeks until auction date
- Wait 28 days to finalize transaction
- Entry costs (up to £1,000)
- Auctioneer charges (up to 6%)
- Bidders can assess the odour severity themselves during viewings
Check our guide on selling a house at auction to understand how this process works for properties with bad odours.
Disclosure Obligations for Properties with Bad Odours
You must tell buyers about serious smell problems.
Consumer protection laws say persistent odours are material information. Your TA6 form asks about damp, drainage and property condition. Bad smells often mean these problems exist.
Hiding smells with air fresheners during viewings is risky. Buyers discover the truth after moving in and can sue you. I’ve seen sellers lose thousands in court for masking damp smells.
Smells that need disclosure:
- Damp or mould odours
- Sewage or drain problems
- Smoke damage throughout
- Pet urine on floors
Temporary cooking smells don’t count. Deep-seated odours from structural problems do. These signal defects buyers need to know about.
Your estate agent should warn viewers about smell issues, too. Trading Standards can prosecute agents who hide problems. Most refuse to market properties with terrible odours.
Buyers can cancel sales after exchange if they prove you hid smell problems. Some even void completed sales through misrepresentation claims.
Get proper advice on what you need to sell your house legally. Your solicitor helps you disclose problems correctly and avoid claims later. Document any treatment you’ve done for smell issues.
Identifying and Eliminating Common Odour Sources
Bad smells kill house sales instantly. Buyers notice smells within seconds and often leave without looking around properly. You must find and fix the source.
Pet Odour Removal
Pet smells sink deep into carpets and floorboards.
Cleaning carpets costs £150-£400 for a whole house. This fixes surface smells but not urine that’s soaked through to the floor underneath. New carpet and underlay costs £800-£2,000.
Wooden floors need sanding and sealing.
This costs £500-£1,200 for normal houses. Really bad cases need new floorboards at £1,500-£3,000. Cat urine smells worse than dog urine and goes deeper into materials.
Smoke Damage Treatment
Cigarette smoke sticks to walls and furniture.
Painting every room costs £2,000-£5,000 for three-bedroom houses. You need special paint that blocks stains first. Carpets and curtains usually need to be thrown away and replaced.
Ozone machines cost £300-£800 for bad smoke damage.
These break down smoke smell particles. Nobody can be inside during treatment. This helps, but you still need to redecorate, too.
Damp and Mould Problems
Musty smells mean you have damp or mould somewhere.
Selling a house with damp issues needs fixing the water problem first. Rising damp costs £1,500-£3,000 to treat. Leaky roofs or walls cost £500-£2,500 to repair.
Cleaning mould costs £300-£800.
Selling a house with mould problems needs proof that you fixed what caused it. New extractor fans cost £150-£400 each and stop mould coming back.
Drainage Issues
Sewage smells come from broken drains or blocked pipes.
Camera surveys cost £100-£200 and show where problems are. Unblocking drains costs £80-£200 for simple jobs. Fixing broken pipes costs £500-£2,500.
Waste pipes carry toilet and sink water.
Repairs cost £400-£1,500 depending on how high up they are. Check the HSE guidance on safe cleaning when dealing with dirty areas.
Dead Animal Removal
Dead mice in the walls create horrible smells.
The smell appears suddenly and gets worse for days. Pest controllers find and remove dead animals for £100-£300. They use special tools to find bodies hidden in walls.
Cleaning afterwards costs £150-£500.
The area needs proper cleaning to kill germs. Air fresheners only hide smells – you must remove what’s causing them.
Flood Damage Treatment
Water damage causes musty smells that last for ages.
Drying out costs £1,000-£3,000 using big dryers and fans. This takes 1-2 weeks. Special treatment stops mould growing and costs £300-£800 extra.
Big floods need lots of work.
Floors, walls, and electrics often need replacing. This costs £5,000-£8,000 or more. Many people just sell flooded houses as they are.
The Effect of Bad Smells on Viewings and Buyer Response
Buyers reject smelly properties within seconds of entering.
Bad odours stop buyers from seeing anything positive about your home. Beautiful kitchen? They don’t notice. New bathroom? They don’t care. All they smell is damp, pets or smoke.
I’ve watched estate agents struggle to get second viewings after buyers smell problems. Most refuse to return regardless of price cuts.
What happens at viewings:
- Buyers leave within minutes
- They tell friends to avoid it
- Estate agents get bad feedback
- Your reputation spreads locally
Mortgage valuers flag a bad smell immediately. Damp odours mean water damage. Drain smells signal expensive repairs. They report these issues, and lenders refuse loans.
Buyers who stay demand massive compensation. Minor smell problems cost you £2,000-£5,000 off. Serious damp or smoke damage means drops of £5,000-£10,000 or more. Some properties become unsellable at any price.
Word spreads fast in local markets. Buyers talk to neighbours and check online. Your property becomes known as “that smelly house.”
Understanding how much you can sell your house for with smell issues helps set realistic prices. Get a house valuation without selling to see what cash buyers might offer for quick sales with odour problems included.
Challenges Selling Properties with Persistent Smells
Bad smells destroy house sales faster than almost anything else. Buyers make snap decisions based on first impressions, and unpleasant odours trigger instant rejection.
Immediate Buyer Rejection
Most buyers leave within 2-3 minutes if your house smells bad.
They don’t even look at the rest of the property properly. Pet smells, damp odours, and cigarette smoke put people off instantly. Buyers associate bad smells with poor maintenance and hidden problems.
Estate agents struggle to get people through the door.
Even curious buyers who book viewings often cancel after hearing about smell issues. The few who do visit rarely make offers. They worry about how much work and money fixing the problem will cost.
Extended Marketing Periods
Properties with smell problems take 3-6 months longer to sell.
A normal house sale takes around 12-16 weeks. Add persistent odours, and you’re looking at 6-9 months or more. The average time to sell a house increases dramatically when buyers can smell problems the moment they walk in.
Every week, the market costs you money.
Mortgage payments, bills, and maintenance continue whilst your house sits empty. Estate agent fees keep mounting. The longer it takes, the more desperate you become and the lower your final price drops.
Limited Buyer Interest
Smell issues cut viewing requests by 60-80%.
Online listings mention “requires some updating” or “ideal for investors” which buyers recognise as code for problems. Photos can’t show smells, but buyers assume the worst. Your property gets skipped over whilst buyers view fresher-smelling alternatives.
Offers come in 20-30% below the asking price.
The few buyers interested know you’re stuck. They make lowball offers, expecting you to accept out of desperation. Understanding why your house isn’t selling often comes down to off-putting smells that buyers can’t overlook.
Survey Complications
Surveyors investigate what’s causing bad smells.
They look for damp, drainage problems, or structural issues. Their reports flag these as serious defects needing specialist surveys. This adds £200-£600 to buyer costs and gives them ammunition to renegotiate or pull out.
Mortgage valuers downgrade properties with smell problems.
They reduce the property value estimate because of suspected underlying damage. This means buyers can’t borrow as much money. The sale falls through because the numbers don’t work anymore.
Mortgage Lender Problems
Banks refuse loans for properties with persistent odours.
Lenders see smells as signs of bigger problems like damp, drainage faults, or structural damage. They won’t release money until you prove the cause is fixed with professional certificates. Check environmental health guidance on what counts as property defects.
First-time buyers get rejected automatically.
Government schemes and Help to Buy mortgages have strict rules about property conditions. Any smell indicating defects means instant rejection. Your buyer pool shrinks to cash purchasers who demand huge discounts.
Repeat Smell Problems
Smells often come back after quick fixes.
Air fresheners and repainting only mask problems temporarily. The underlying cause, such as damp or pet urine contamination, remains. Buyers who exchange contracts then discover returning smells can delay completion or pull out completely.
This causes sales to collapse at the final stage.
You’ve paid legal fees, survey costs, and removal company deposits. When smells return and buyers withdraw, you lose everything and start again. Proper professional treatment costs more upfront but prevents these expensive failures.
Selling Your Property with Odour Issues to Property Buyers Today
I’ll be straight with you…
Persistent bad smells kill house sales dead. Whether it’s damp, pets, smoke, or something worse, buyers notice immediately, and most won’t come back for a second viewing. If you’d rather not spend weeks deep cleaning, redecorating, and replacing carpets, I totally understand.
Now, I need to be honest—our offer reflects our own costs and the fact that we aim to resell quickly, so it won’t be the full market value.
But here’s why people stuck with odour problems still choose to sell their house fast through us…
Speed
Most house sales take months, but we can buy your property in as little as 7 days.
This quick process is perfect if you need to move soon or want to avoid being stuck in a long chain of buyers and sellers. We have the cash on hand so don’t need to wait for mortgages or a chain to collapse.
Guaranteed Sale
Did you know 1 in 3 sales fall through on the open market?
We know how frustrating it is to get 6 months into a process and have a buyer pull out.
When we give you the final price for your house, that’s the amount you’ll get. Guaranteed!
No Costs
You won’t face any costs with us.
We handle all the expenses involved in buying your property, including legal fees and surveys. You get cash in your bank when the sale is complete, and there are no surprise estate agent commissions to worry about.
No Stress Or Hassle
Our team supports you through the whole selling process.
We keep you updated about what’s happening and answer any questions quickly. You’ll always understand what’s going on with your sale and what happens next.
Free Property Valuation
Our property experts will value your house at no cost to you.
They look carefully at your property and check local market prices to give you an accurate figure. This professional service comes with no obligations.
No Viewings Required
Forget about cleaning and tidying for viewings.
We don’t need multiple visits or open houses to make our offer. This means no strangers walking through your home, and no disruption to your daily life.
All Properties Welcome
Whether your house needs work or is in perfect condition, we’ll buy it.
We have experience with all types of properties and conditions. This means you can sell your house to us no matter what state it’s in.
Professional Legal Service
Our expert team manages all the legal requirements for you.
We work with experienced property lawyers who make sure everything runs smoothly, and put your property at the top of their list. This gives you peace of mind that your sale is being handled properly from start to finish.
