Surveyor negligence case study 2

Background

We acted on behalf of a couple who bought a property on the basis that the building surveyor, whilst noting that there were cracks around a front bay window, considered the same to be old and that movement had stopped. In fact, the whole of the bay window started coming away from the house following a very dry summer and in so doing was pulling the roof away from its proper points of load. The house was in danger of collapsing.

The surveyor relied in his defence on the fact that he had specifically stated in his report that the cracks should be monitored in very dry weather. Our clients had not done this.

How we helped

We noted from photographs that there were drainage chambers in the street in line with the bay window. Having seen this issue in other cases, we brought in a drainage expert who sent cameras down the drains to establish that the issues were nothing to do with the dry summer, rather the

main drains under the house had collapsed and had caused the land to slip over a period of time. The expert concluded that unless the drains were repaired and quickly, it was inevitable that the bay would collapse, potentially pulling down the front of the house. We secured a favourable settlement for the client so that they could pay for the necessary repairs.