Building surveyor negligence case study 1

Background

We acted on behalf of a couple who bought a property which had a thatched roof. They had paid for a building surveyor to consider the thatched roof and he concluded that it was of sound structural condition. He specifically said that there were ‘no red flags’. In fact, the roof was in poor condition as it was in danger of collapsing and was deemed unsafe. It required complete replacement at an estimated cost of £50,000 plus VAT.

The surveyor in his defence, relied on the fact that he had specifically stated in his report that he could not access the full internal roof to be able to make specific comments and that our clients should have paid for an inspection hole to be made in the ceiling. Our clients had not done this.

How we helped

We were able to establish liability by bringing in a thatched roof and surveying expert who concluded that there was a clear trail of suspicion that the roof structure was in poor condition from the parts of the internal room beams which were exposed. This would have been obvious to an expert at the time the survey was done. The surveyor had not advised the clients that he would need to make openings in the roof to be sure. We secured a favourable settlement for the client sufficient to allow them to pay for the necessary repairs as well reimbursing them their legal costs and so they were able to move on from what was a very stressful situation.