UK - Selling Your Home? Why You Need To Remove The Artex

Artex was around a lot in the ’70s and ’80s and was actually an interior design must in those times. It is a surface coating that was used and still sometimes used for decorating. It allows a professional plasterer or decorator to add raised texture and patterns to ceilings or walls. The name Artex is a trademark of Artex Ltd, which is a UK company, there are other similar products out there, however, Artex has become the name used across the board for all of these products. Textured wall, ceiling removal is difficult and can be dangerous if you don’t use the right wet system removal product like X-Tex.

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Why Do You Need to Remove Textured Coverings When Selling Your home?

Textured wall and ceiling coverings are no longer an interior design trend and will make a home look dated even if it is freshly painted. Most people now like smooth plastered walls and ceilings or wallpaper. If you are selling your house and you have textured coatings then you should seriously think about removing them and giving it a fresh coat of paint before you put it on the market.

People don’t like the look of textured wall and ceiling coverings anymore and often can’t see past them to visualise what it will look like with smooth plastered walls as well as the cost implications of removal.

People will be put off buying your home as they think it will cost them a lot to remove the textured coatings using a specialist. There are a lot of decorators out there now that just don’t want the job of removing it.

People will feel it is a lot of work to remove textured wall and ceiling coverings themselves and will often not even offer on your home or will offer way under its value and asking price.

People associate textured wall and ceiling coverings with asbestos and poisoning even if it was done after 2000 and they will shy away from being associated with it or living in a home that once had it.

Even if there is no asbestos but your house has textured walls and ceilings it still often affects the valuation of your property due to its appeal and the amount of work a buyer would have to do to remove it.

If your home has textured wall or ceiling coverings then the risk of asbestos poisoning is minimal as long as there are no major cracks in it, however, it will significantly reduce the value of your home so it is always best to remove it before you put it on the market.

It isn’t illegal to sell a property with asbestos, however, you will have to disclose its presence if you are aware of it. The Property Misdescriptions Act of 2013 states that it is an offence to withhold such information, and failing to abide by the law could invalidate the sale and result in prosecution. therefore it’s best to remove it before you market your home.

If you are not aware of asbestos in your home but a buyer’s survey uncovers it, there are no repercussions for you and there are is no law stating you have to be aware of it when selling a property. It’s probably better to know what you are dealing with a get your own survey done before you put your home on the market as this means you will know exactly where you stand and have no unwanted surprises once you have received an offer.

You can read our full article here for everything you need to know here.