Surveyer negligence - how to expedite a resolution?

landb

Hi,

Am looking for advice / words of wisdom regarding making a financial claim against a surveyor for what - IMHO - constitutes negligence in a full building survey.

Will try and give all the facts ... sorry if this goes on a bit!

I had a full building survey done in May, by a surveyor appointed by the mortgage company. The survey report mentioned "small tears in roof felt lining" and a couple of other things, but nothing specific which gave me any real cause for concern about the roof.

The sale completed and I moved in in July.

When putting stuff in the loft for storage, I noticed - through the holes in the felt lining - that many of the timbers that lie between the trusses, and which support the tiles, are completely rotten and falling apart. The tiles are also sagging in many places.

Also, when it's raining, there's a lot of evidence of leaking in numerous areas across the roof. This includes the areas where the felt is damaged, and also where the flashing joins the chimney.

I've had a repair quote (from a trusted reputable local builder who's done work for me before) which is coming in at ~£1000 for a localised repair (basically the flashing, and where the obvious rotten timbers are) but with no guarantee of success, and ~£6000 to strip the roof, refelt, new battens, and relay all the tiles. Prices VATEX. The builder's view (given 30+ yrs experience) is that when he strips the roof he'll find that many of the other battens are also rotten.

My gripe isn't so much the surveyor didn't specifically identify the leaks - after all it was dry when the survey was done, and the weather had been dry for a week. Rather, it is that the poor state of the battens - readily visible through the tears in the felt, to an untrained person - weren't mentioned in the survey report, and hence specific defects which in my view relate to the condition of the property, and its value, were not made clear.

Had this been mentioned I'd have got specialist advice, reconsidered the value of my offer, etc.

Given the condition of the roof my view is that I've paid more than the house is worth, and that the surveyor was negligent in not pointing out the specific fault. An initial discussion with a solicitor indicates I *could* sue for negligence.

This might be true, but strikes me as being protracted and a bit like going for the jugular. (Perhaps I'm being too reasonable?!)

I've written to the surveyor with the facts, he's come back and reinspected the roof and taken photos, and has now gone on leave for week. His secretary tells me that he's "written to the company's insurer asking for advice on how to handle the situation".

Is this an admission of liability by the surveyor, or simply standard practice?

The outcome I'm after is, quite simply, financial compensation towards the roof repair costs. In an ideal world I'd be recompensed for the cost of the entire roof overhaul (since the report doesn't explicitly mention anything which indicates the poor condition), but as a minimum I'd accept a reasonable proportion of the repair cost, plus the survey fee (~£1000) refunded on the grounds I don't believe it was fit for purpose.

An additional complication is that I go away for 6 weeks at the end of October, and really need the roof repaired and made watertight before I leave.

In practical terms this means the builder needs to start within the next month, to allow for numerous rain delays etc!

How quickly can I reasonably expect such matters to be resolved, and are there ways to encourage the surveyor to speed matters up? e.g. threaten with complaint direct to the mortgage company, RICS, small claims court, etc?

Will the surveyor (or his insurer) insist on a 2nd opinion, specialist assessment, all taking time, and should I delay appointing the builder until I've heard back from the surveyor?

Should I write to the surveyor again asking for specific renumeration, and wait for a counter-offer?

Any advice / pointers on how to expedite matters gratefully received.