Claims we handle
We act for buyers, homeowners, landlords, developers and lenders in claims against chartered surveyors and valuers.
- Defects missed in a homebuyer report or building survey
- Damp, rot, infestation or drainage problems not identified or not properly flagged
- Structural movement, subsidence or cracking dismissed as cosmetic
- Overvaluation causing a buyer to overpay or a lender to over-advance
- Failure to recommend further specialist investigation where the evidence called for it
- Negligent schedules of condition or dilapidations advice
- Boundary, measurement or site-area errors affecting value or development potential
Scope is everything
The first question in a surveyor claim is what you instructed and what the report said it covered. A valuation carried out for a lender is a limited exercise; a Level 3 building survey is a detailed inspection with a correspondingly broader duty.
Standard caveats and exclusions in the report will be tested rather than accepted at face value — a surveyor cannot use boilerplate to disclaim something a competent professional should plainly have seen and reported.
Building the evidence
These claims turn on expert evidence. We instruct an independent chartered surveyor to inspect the property, report on what a competent surveyor should have found at the time of the original inspection, and quantify the difference in value.
Photographs, quotes, contemporaneous notes and anything from the conveyancing file all help. If the defect has already been repaired, keep invoices and pre-repair images.
Signs of surveyor negligence
- A significant defect appeared shortly after purchase that the report never mentioned
- Repair quotes are far beyond anything the survey prepared you for
- Another surveyor says the problem would have been visible on inspection
- The valuation was materially out of line with comparable sales at the time
- The report recommended no further investigation despite obvious warning signs