Making A Professional Negligence Claim Against the Surveyor Who Valued A Property

Often a surveyor's job is seen as quite a good one. Surveyors are not desk bound, they can go out on site, assess buildings and ascertain their market value or if there are any structural problems which may affect the value of the house or property. Then they go back to the office, have someone input the data they collected on site, a report is then collated and sent off to the client. The surveyor doesn't even have to meet the client that he is acting for. All in all it is just a great job, isn't it?

Well there are downsides to being a surveyor and one of them is the risk of having a professional negligence claim taken out against you. Surveyor negligence means that a surveyor can be sued if the building turns out to have been wrongly valued or there was something on or near the property that the surveyor should have noticed.

For example, a surveyor could be reasonably expected to spot that a structural joint had been removed. So if the surveyor's report does not highlight this, then the surveyor may well be liable in terms of negligence and a surveyor negligence claim may be launched against him or her.

On the other hand, if the client's property is in negative equity as a result of the recession, then the surveyor has not been negligent - they have undertaken their duties to the best of their abilities so there is no case to answer and the client will not be able to take a professional negligence claim, because their negative equity has not been caused by the surveyor.

In addition the client will need to show that it would have been reasonable for the surveyor to pick up on the issue that he or she overlooked. The surveyor only has to show a reasonable level of competence, he or she does not have to show that they were the best surveyor in the UK or that they were the most competent. So long as the surveyor discharges due care and attention, then it is unlikely that a professional negligence claim can be brought.

But surveyors are human and they can sometimes take their eye off the ball and make some really big mistakes. So there are lots of occasions where a client will take a professional negligence claim against a surveyor and the surveyor will be found to be at fault. Clients should not be deterred from considering making a claim for surveyor negligence - but make sure that you appoint specialist professional negligence solicitors, who will be able to advise you on the best way forward.


------

If you need professional negligence claim advice contact Bonallack & Bishop. They are specialists on Surveyor Negligence. Senior Partner Tim Bishop is responsible for all major strategic decisions, seeing himself as a businessman who owns a law firm. He has expanded the firm by 1000% in 13 years.