possible damp behind plasterboard?

Hi all -

Currently stressed out purchasing a house and was hoping someone could give me some feedback.

We've had an offer accepted on our house we're selling, and have one accepted on one we're buying, and I have sent around a company to do a damp and timber report on the property.

I'm yet to receive the actual written report as it takes a few days to prepare, but I have just spoken to them to chase up how the inspection went. In short, they've said that the downstairs of the house has been plasterboarded over stone (no stud frame), and they have a strong suspicion that the stone has damp. As they've said, there's no way of telling without removing the board, but if they tap to find the adhesive and do readings there, they are higher, suggesting it's soaking up moisture.

There's no visual sign of damp, and I didn't really notice a smell at all, although the surveyor said he could (the only thing i could smell was a damp smell from the bathroom, but that was just stagnant water.)

The property is currently empty, and it doesn't look like anything 's been freshly painted, so I'm wondering just how bad the problem really is. Obviously boarding can be a way of hiding things, but there was also building works done at one point to knock a wall through and install an rsj, as well as adding an extension, so it also makes sense to me why they would have just boarded up the downstairs.

I'm really unsure of what to do next; we love the property and it would be a shame to lose it, but we also don't want to have to do work. I'm considering getting back to the estate agent and trying to find out if the current owner is the one who did the work, and if they know if a dpc was used, if the boards were foil-backed etc. Would that even make a difference? Is there anything else I should know?

I'm just new to this, and I need to know how common is this, and how much of this is likely to be overcautiousness, or is this really a stupid property to purchase knowing those details?

They've also mentioned that the alley way between both properties which is currently gravel needs digging down as it's too high and can create further damp, but I'm not sure of the details of that yet as I didn't fully understand. That seemed to be more of a side issue.

Thanks for letting me vent - I'd appreciate any input of any kind!