Surveyor has made a mistake on report, what can I do?

Samson94

Hi there

Sorry for the long thread but I want to describe the situation in full to get the best advise. I’ve just completed on a house purchase last week of a terraced house. Before the purchase I instructed a full building survey. He reported as follows:

All of the chimney breasts and original fireplaces have been removed, including the flues and chimney breasts in the roof void. It is not possible to establish how the remaining section of the chimney stack above the roof void is supported. The stack has twisted and leans in towards the subject property. Clearly the stack lacks proper support and is apparently being held in place due to the fact that the stack is shared and presumably chimney breasts etc remain in place in the neighbouring property. Further supports are required below the section of the chimney stack if it is to be retained. Without additional support works it is likely that further deterioration and movement to the stack will occur.

After I read the report I asked him what exactly is required to support the remaining stack, he said it needs some additional wooden support and it would cost roughly £1000 which I was prepared for.

The day after completing the purchase, I get a builder in to do exactly what the Surveyor recommended. We went into the loft and immediately saw the wall was covered by a fire stop wall constructed of timber and plasterboard. The builder removed the plasterboard and saw in fact the chimney breasts remain in the roof void and they had installed wooden supports to hold up the remaining chimney breast and stack. There are no signed of any movement and the supports look sufficient. However, the chimney breast itself has different issues. The mortar in between the bricks has turned into sand and some of the bricks have gone soft and cracked completely. There are holes in the wall and the builder says he doesn’t want to touch it before a structural engineer looks at it and it will most likely need rebuilding entirely which will include hacking off the ceilings in the first floor bedrooms. He says the works could cost me thousands, I’ll need to get building regs and party wall agreements todo the works which can take a few months and obviously I won’t be able to move into the property until works are completed. If I knew it was this bad I would not have purchased the property.

The surveyor clearly stated in the report that ALL chimney breasts have been removed including the breasts in the loft which is incorrect. I will be getting a structural engineer in to confirm what the builder has said. If the builder is correct, do I have a chance to claim against the Surveyor? What steps should I take in doing this?

Thank you

FreeBear

Samson94 wrote: »

After I read the report I asked him what exactly is required to support the remaining stack, he said it needs some additional wooden support and it would cost roughly £1000 which I was prepared for.

I would have expected any decent surveyor to state "Steel supports required". Using timber to support a brick structure isn't really a good idea in today's world. At least he didn't recommend gallows brackets which wouldn't pass building control approval in most (all ?) areas.

By the sounds of it, your builder has a pretty good grasp of what is needed in the way of agreements and approval - I would take his advice and put a complaint in against the surveyor.

Davesnave

Reputable surveyors have insurance to cover eventualities like this. Just go through whatever complaints procedure they have as a first step,

Tom99

Would the average surveyor have noticed the and fire-stop wall and therefore that there may be a problem behind it?
If so you maybe have a claim but the average surveyor would not have broken open the fire-stop wall so would not have been able to report on the poor condition of the brickwork behind it.

Samson94

Well the issue I have with the report is he has stated there is no chimney breast in the loft - but there is and there is a serious issue with it.

If I go through their complaint handling procedure, will I need legal assistance?

Tom99

Samson94 wrote: »

Well the issue I have with the report is he has stated there is no chimney breast in the loft - but there is and there is a serious issue with it.

If I go through their complaint handling procedure, will I need legal assistance?

No you don't need legal assistance at this stage, go through the firms complaints procedure, make sure you are clear what outcome you want.
Do you have photos before you started opening up, did the surveyor include photos in their report. Unless there is imminent danger it would be best not to start any repair until the dispute is resolved.

At the same time contact the RICS Disputes Resolution Service to find how how and when they come into play, presumable after you have exhausted the firm's process and if neither party want to go straight to Court.
https://www.rics.org/uk/products/dispute-resolution-service/

Slinky

At what point in a house does a chimney breast become a chimney stack? In my completely uninformed mind it's breast below loft height and stack from loft upwards. What you're refering to as 'breast' in the loft, maybe what he is refering to as 'stack' which he has said needs supporting and which you have found is the case.

Tom99

Slinky wrote: »

At what point in a house does a chimney breast become a chimney stack? In my completely uninformed mind it's breast below loft height and stack from loft upwards. What you're referring to as 'breast' in the loft, maybe what he is referring to as 'stack' which he has said needs supporting and which you have found is the case.

What you can see from outside is the stack and the surveyor clearly says than the chimney breast in the roof void, ie loft, has been removed.

Rambosmum

Tom99 wrote: »

What you can see from outside is the stack and the surveyor clearly says than the chimney breast in the roof void, ie loft, has been removed.

When you looked in the loft, was the breast visible? Was it obvious that the breast was concealed behind the plasterboard? This is what it seems to hinge on. I can't picture from your description what the surveyor would have seen, but if he looked in the loft and saw a rear wall with no breast, then that is what he reported. He would not have looked behind a plasterboard wall.

Davesnave

Rambosmum wrote: »

When you looked in the loft, was the breast visible? Was it obvious that the breast was concealed behind the plasterboard?.

I agree with this. It's obviously not the surveyor's job to break through the covering plasterboard, so the matter hinges on what could be seen at the time of the survey and what might be reasonably deduced from that by a competent person.

Samson94

But surely the surveyor should have said he could not comment on the chimney breast in the loft as it was covered by plasterboard. He should then recommend the plasterboard be removed to expose the wall and ascertain why the chimney stack is leaning.

Instead the surveyor has told me all the chimney breasts have been removed including the ones in the loft. So from that he has recommended additional support is required to the chimney stack which is wrong information.