I am in the splendid home of architect Louise McDonnell near London’s South Bank. But I’m not here to admire its sexy foyer and a kitchen that would make Nigella weep. I have come to “tune into” the house, to “listen” to its atmosphere and detect any negative energies within. I’m no expert, but the house seems all sweetness and light to me.

But it was not always so, says McDonnell, who bought the property with her husband Milko in 2001. They lovingly restored it, but then a series of mysterious events began: the stairwell lights blew every three days. A heavy door fell off its sliding rail and a painting crashed to the floor, even though both had been carefully secured. And there was something horrible in the boiler room, which she describes as “a diffuse black light”, that was felt by everyone who went in there.

“I don’t believe in ghosts,” McDonnell is quick to tell me, “but I am sensitive to atmospheres. I can pick up on a property’s cold or dark spots.” Recalling how a friend had hired a healer to “cleanse” her home, she called in Suzi Morris, a “space healer”. Morris examined the house and found it “static and not homely. It had a lot of stagnant energy”. The main culprit was a horrible geopathic stress line cutting the house in two.

What, you may ask, is geopathic stress? A growing number of practitioners claim that when the earth’s natural energy field is disturbed — by factors such as underground streams, toxins, radon gas, earth fissures and so on — it can have a bad effect on those living near the fault. Another aspect is electro stress, from man-made domestic appliances, high-voltage cables, mobile phones and masts. Just as people get affected by stress, the space healers reason, so do homes. The twin ogres of geopathic stress and electro stress can apparently damage your work, health and property sale. A house healer could work their magic for you and clinch the deal, they say.

Some of their methods do indeed sound like magic, and each has a unique way of sending those negative energies packing. Dowsing — using metal rods or handheld tools to search for something hidden from view — seems to be the most popular. But magic doesn’t come free: space healers charge between £50 and £500, depending on whether they come to your home or do “distant healing”. The latter is cheaper, but it requires a leap of faith to believe that a healer dowsing a map in the West Country can have an effect on a property in London or Edinburgh.

Morris shows me how she checks a property with dowsing rods. When the two rods are open, the area is clear; when they cross, she has found an area of blocked or negative energy. “It’s my job to bring the property’s energy back into balance.” How does she do that? “With Vortex Healing, a sacred technique from ancient India. I channel the Vortex (energy) into people and places, to heal them.” It gets more esoteric when we come to the “ entities” she finds. Does she mean ghosts? “I see them as stuck energies,” she says. “They need help to release themselves up to the divine light.”

Wherever the horrible presence in McDonnell’s boiler room was released to, it went — and she seems genuinely thrilled. “I couldn’t believe the difference,” she says. “The house feels much more open and light.” McDonnell has since used Morris to work her magic on properties she had developed that were proving hard to sell, and says they all sold quickly after the healing.

The potential harm caused by electromagnetic fields is open to debate. In 1996, the World Health Organisation began an investigation into the subject, but has yet to decide whether “electrical sensitivity” is a genuine medical condition.

Geopathic and electro stress consultant Elizabeth Brown, based in west London, is convinced it is. “The body can be disturbed by exposure to domestic appliances, mobile phone masts and wireless technology,” she says. “I see more and more clients with problems such as a suppressed immune system or an inability to absorb nutrients.”

Space healing, she believes, can make the difference between wellbeing and being so ill you are forced to move.

Some Church of England vicars are willing to visit homes and say prayers to cleanse and heal them. It’s unclear whether they’re aware of geopathic stress, though some estate agents are. Jerome Panissie of the My Pad agency says: “If a vendor has had a property healed, we pass that on to potential buyers.” And if they find an unpleasant stuck energy, they’ll know who to call.

• Suzi Morris, 020 7351 1788, www.suzimorris.co.uk; The British Society of Dowsers, 01684 576 969, www.britishdowsers.org; Elizabeth Brown, 020 3155 4069, www.gentlepowers.com

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