Litigation against surveyor and conveyancer - how to find a decent solicitor?

bobilishious

thearchitect said:

OP

I'm afraid that professional negligence claims are rarely, if ever, resolved quickly. 

You noted the house is Dorran, it was upgraded in the 90’s, but don’t have any certification to say it was done correctly.  Is the issue therefore perhaps whether sufficient disruptive and other inspections can be carried out by surveyors, architects, engineers, and others to demonstrate that it has been completed to an acceptable standard?   That is likely to be far cheaper than court action.

I'm still looking at this in some detail - i can get structural engineers with full PI insurance to sign off that the property is structurally sound - but the lenders aren't interested - they want proof that the property was upgraded in accordance with the approved PRC scheme (which ended 26 years ago), and show them a PRC certificate as evidence of that.
The company who did the PRC scheme back then can issue a retrospective certificate however after discussions they've confirmed that the property - although upgraded well and is structurally sound - wouldn't qualify to get a retrospective certificate - they can redo the house and issue a certificate but initial estimate is i'm looking at 6 figures.

Seems totally bonkers experienced Structural Engineers with full indemnity insurance are willing to go on record saying it's absolutely fine but the lenders just aren't interested. Basically just a case of "computer says no".

bobilishious

GDB2222 said:

bobilishious said:

GDB2222 said:

I assume the property is absolutely fine to live in, so can you rent it out? 

Alternatively, can you afford to sell to a cash buyer for say £350k, which crystallises your loss? You can then sue for that at your leisure, whilst moving the family to a more suitable location immediately. 

Thanks for the reply.

It's structurally sound yes but my mortgage doesn't allow it to be let and i most likely can't remortgage as a buy to let as i'm in a fixed term contract for another couple of years (which wasn't an issue moving as i was just porting the mortgage to the new property).

The selling for £350k is tempting to persue however it assumes that i will win the case further down the line  - as my wife deteriorates i'm also likely going to have to give up my own job so nearly all the money i have in the world is tied up in my property - potentially throwing away over 150k when i may have to give up work in a few years and support my wife and 2 kids is a pretty scary prospect.

I don't suppose that your lenders would know if you let it out temporarily.   If they did find out, I doubt they would object if you explained that you were doing so to move closer to your father. I think I would just let it, and hope not to have the discussion, to be frank.

Yeah, i'll certainly keep that in mind - i'm hoping it doesn't have to go that way but if needs must and all that.