Property survey - who's liable if something is missed?

charliechin

Hi all,

A quick one - we've just had a property surveyed, we've received a copy of the "contract documentation", and I'm wondering what the following section really means:

"Liability. The Report provided is solely for the use of the Client and the Client's professional advisers, and no liability to anyone else is accepted. It may not be provided to anyone else."

Does this mean if they've missed anything, they're liable to us and therefore we can claim compensation?

Thanks in advance,

Russ

poppysarah

It'll say " we recommend you get other surveyors to do anything we have on our default list of everything"

rikbar

No, it means that their contract is with you and the Mortgage lender and nobody else. This means that if you decide to not buy the house you cannot, without their express permission, sell the survey to anyone else for them to rely upon. This is just a way of limiting liability and ensuring that the contractual duties are clear.

You can only claim compensation if they are wrong and have not included enough get out of jail free clauses to cover themselves. These guys are even better than us accountants at writing all liability out of their contracts.

Hope it helps

Rikbar

charliechin

Hi

Thanks for the info. I have quickly scanned the contract to show you.

You can read this at:

http://www.eclipcecreate.co.uk/survey.pdf

Thanks again,

Russ

marybishop

That's the standard RICS Homebuyer Survey & Valuation T&C's.

babirusa_rose

There are three main types of house survey - basic, homebuyer and full structual. Only with the last one are certain faults expected to be identified. Therefore, disclaimers are put in to limit the liability of the survey.

Debt_Free_Chick

charliechin wrote: »

Does this mean if they've missed anything, they're liable to us and therefore we can claim compensation?

Kind of..... you would only get compensation if the surveyor was negligent e.g. failed to spot something that any other surveyor would have picked up. But note that a Homebuyer's Survey is only a limited inspection. Many things are not surveyed and specifically excluded, so these wouldn't be eligible for a claim for compensation.