Survey missed major flaw - now what?

RunningRach

I hope someone can offer me some advice on this?
My mum has just exchanged on a property and was having the kitchen replaced when the builders informed her that there had been an old water leak for quite some time in the kitchen and it had basically rotted through the joists supporting the floor. We noticed that the floor was a bit 'bouncy' on viewing and since she'd been in there but assumed it was badly fitted laminate flooring. Anyway, the builder has said that the floor will need to be rebuilt which is a cost that my mum hadn't budgeted for at all.
We are quite annoyed as she paid nearly £600 for a full survey on the property which picked up nothing other than a small leak in the roof which her builder has now fixed. The survey also pointed things out like "1 screw missing out of bedroom door hinge" so we assumed it was very comprehensive, however, the surveyor obviously failed to notice the major damage to the kitchen floor! The builder was amazed as he noticed it straight away. Mum has rung the surveyors but the girl she spoke to bascially fobbed her off saying "we can't be expected to pick up every little thing wrong" and if she isn't happy to write a letter of complaint.
My question is - what can she do now? The building society aren't sure and her conveyancing solicitor have basically said there is nothing they can do with it either. Has anyone ever experienced this? Can there be any come-back and/or financial impact on the surveyor?
Thanks for any help received!

littlesos

I've just been through a very similar thing. Surveyor missed the fact that the "lintel" over the bathroom window was in three pieces, so not actually a lintel at all, and there is a huge bulge in the render on the outside, probably caused by damp.

Did you have a homebuyers survey or a full building survey?

The problem you are going to have is that there are lots of disclaimers in surveys and if the surveyor was unable to lift the flooring to test for damp then he will have said something along the lines of "unable to check floors due to floor coverings", which is his get-out, and almost certainly followed by
"get a damp specialist in to check all timbers and floors"

If I were you I'd write a complaint first, we did, then they sent out another surveyor to look at the points we said had been missed. Then they sent us a letter saying they admit no responsibility at all, but would offer £100. We are going to accept this, as although they did a rubbish job, fighting them in court (which is what it would come to) is expensive, time consuming and very stressful, and with two small children I just can't be bothered.

vivatifosi

Like littlesos I've been in the same situation. In my case the surveyor failed to pick up multiple problems which were serious and totalled £5k.

You should definitely write to the surveyor who may offer a small sum as compensation. Whether you decide to take it further will depend on the sum involved. In my case I have no choice, as so much money is involved. Surveyors can't be expected to pick up on every little thing, but if something is obvious to someone else in the trade then it should also be to him/her.

If you do take it further it isn't easy. I've had to pay for a second survey and am going through the small claims court. In general the surveyors terms and conditions make it such that you can only claim if you can show that the value of the property was affected as a result, which if the repair will only cost a couple of hundred pounds, is unlikely to be the case.

The second surveyor told me that as a profession, they have very high indemnity insurance as such problems do arise, but there is a difference between a little niggle which almost everyone will find after a survey, and a major fault.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

patchwork_cat

Was the survey done in association with a mortgage- as 12 years ago we had a homebuyers report just the basic done on a house we bought and it turned out that the retaining wall was falling down. We complained to the HAlifax and they paid to replace the wall.
I think that all in all we were very lucky as we got a quote before contacting them and they said £1500, the Halifax replied no you could get it done for £600 we said ok then you find someone. So they did and it cost £7500 in the end! It was a hell of a lot of hassle as our neighbours whose land it was retaining kicked off big time and could see £ signs. I really don't think it would happen now with all the centralisation, but it did then and we couldn't quite believe it.

You really shouldn't have problems applying through professional indemnity insurance it isn't on - that is exactly why professional indemnity insurance exists.

You could also try writing to the surveyors governing body, RICS?

RunningRach

Thanks for that. The survey was done with the mortgage, the BS said mum only really needed a valuation survey but she wanted an indepth one so she would know what she was buying up front. This has come as a complete surprise though!

I think she is planning to complain in writing to the surveyors and then copy in the BS. I will mention RICS to her also and also that "professional indemnity insurance" - I've not heard of that and no-one has mentionned it (solicitor/BS/surveyor) so I'll make sure she goes armed with that new information.

Thanks pwc :A

robnye

littlesos wrote: »

The problem you are going to have is that there are lots of disclaimers in surveys and if the surveyor was unable to lift the flooring to test for damp then he will have said something along the lines of "unable to check floors due to floor coverings", which is his get-out, and almost certainly followed by
"get a damp specialist in to check all timbers and floors"

if there wasnt any visible signs of the damp, then this wouldnt be picked up by a normal survey, if you had a fulll structural survey then testing with a water meter would have picked it up.

littlesos

robnye wrote: »

if there wasnt any visible signs of the damp, then this wouldnt be picked up by a normal survey, if you had a fulll structural survey then testing with a water meter would have picked it up.

Would it have been picked up though? If there was vinyl flooring, a damp meter wouldn't pick up through that, you would have to lift the floor covering. If the flooring was stuck down the surveyor wouldn't pull it up just to check.

I have to ask the OP did the builder tell you there was damage before he pulled out the kitchen? Bouncy floorboards don't necessarily mean rotted joists. The floor upstairs in our new house is boucy, cos it's a chipboard floor and it's been laid down really badly, so of the edges of the chipboard aren't resting on joists. I would be surprised someone could diagnose rotten joists from just walking around a room.

RunningRach

The floor drops by approx 2-3 inches and you can see that the joists are not connected to the wall over around 4 feet any more and are rotting.
The floor was mostly covered by laminate (laid badly) but where the worst of the problem is the floor boards are bare and easy to see - all the surveyor would have needed to do is move the kitchen bin from under the counter top and he would have been able to see the floor.
All the builder did was come and have a look, look at the floor and pull out the under-counter fridge (left in place by the vendor) and you can see the problem straight away as you can see a 'floating joist'. He showed my Mum and then carried on with the job of taking out the old kitchen as it would enable him to see the extent of the problem.

Running_Horse

You noticed the floor was 'bouncy' on viewing, but didn't bring it to the attention of the surveyor for a closer look?

real1314

I had a homebuyers, £150 ish survey done on a house about 2.5 yrs ago - the surveyor picked up "springing" in the floorboards and referred for extra checks to be made by a damp/timber co. They established that the joists had rotted and were able to re-set them.

As I said this was on a fairly cheap survey (the guy who did it is actually an old mate though, so maybe he paid a bit of extra attention), but afaik, springing is fairly common to look out for.

littlesos

yes we did bring it to his attention, but as it isn't in their remit to remove floor coverings then he just said get it checked by a builder.
Did your survey not suggest you got someone to check for damp? I thought that was a standard line now, regardless of whether they have spotted any or not.