Cat pee smell in unit of duplex under contract — AIO?
I’m under contract on a duplex and had the inspection today. We’d live in the upstairs unit and rent out the downstairs unit.
The upstairs smells totally fine, but the downstairs unit has a faint but noticeable smell that reminds me of cat pee/ammonia. It’s most obvious right when you walk in. My partner and realtor could barely smell it, if at all, but the inspector noticed it too, so I don’t think I’m completely imagining it.
The downstairs unit is fully vacant. The smell seems strongest near the entrance, which is also near the utility room with the water heater/furnace and the laundry room. I checked the laundry drain/P-trap and it didn’t seem to smell bad. There are some signs of critters/ants near the laundry area in some outside drywall/insulation that looks eaten up, but the smell wasn’t clearly worse there. I can smell it elsewhere in the unit too, just less strongly.
A few more details:
* The unit has LVP flooring, not carpet.
* The seller says there haven’t been pets since the remodel a few years ago.
* No obvious signs that the smell was being masked: no plug-ins, candles, heavy fragrance, fresh paint smell, etc.
* No other moisture issues were found during inspection.
* We’re doing air quality testing for mold/particulates, but won’t have results for a bit.
* Our inspection objection deadline is in about a week.
* We can still do additional inspections.
I’m extra sensitive to this because we previously had to leave a rental due to cat pee smell in the carpets and possibly subfloor. I know these smells can be really hard to track down and remove. Even though this unit has LVP, I’m worried the smell could be in the subfloor, baseboards, walls, HVAC, utility/laundry area, or something else.
Since this would be the rental unit, I’m concerned that even a faint smell could make it harder to rent or could turn into a bigger remediation issue.
What would you do next before the inspection deadline? Are there specific things we should test/check, like blacklight inspection, moisture meter, HVAC/duct inspection, pulling baseboards, checking under LVP, etc.? Is this the kind of issue you’d ask for seller remediation/credit for, or potentially walk over if the source can’t be identified?
Am I overreacting, or is this a legitimate red flag?