Taking a conveyancer to small claims court

AskAsk

Robin9 said:

If anyone should have notified Building Control it would have been the roofing contractor - unless it was DIY.


OP  - rest easy and move on . Nobody is going to bother.

I had a similar job - entire roof stripped, new felt. new battens and two complete rows of tiles added to correct the poor original 1973 build where the tiles didn't overlap properly. I didn't even think of Building Control.

we didn't know this either when we had a new roof istalled.  yes, the roofer should be the one that notifies building control and get the certificate but most roofers will not do this and if they do, they will want more for the job.

when we sold the house shortly afterwards, we were asked for the certificate and we applied for retrospective certificate.  the surveyor came to look at it and signed it off.  he didn't spend any time at all except just visually look at it and popped his head in the loft and asked if similar tiles were there before, which we confirmed was the case.

that costs us £400 + VAT.  a very easy job for the surveyor for the money!

SmallClaimant123

AskAsk said:

Robin9 said:

If anyone should have notified Building Control it would have been the roofing contractor - unless it was DIY.


OP  - rest easy and move on . Nobody is going to bother.

I had a similar job - entire roof stripped, new felt. new battens and two complete rows of tiles added to correct the poor original 1973 build where the tiles didn't overlap properly. I didn't even think of Building Control.

we didn't know this either when we had a new roof istalled.  yes, the roofer should be the one that notifies building control and get the certificate but most roofers will not do this and if they do, they will want more for the job.

when we sold the house shortly afterwards, we were asked for the certificate and we applied for retrospective certificate.  the surveyor came to look at it and signed it off.  he didn't spend any time at all except just visually look at it and popped his head in the loft and asked if similar tiles were there before, which we confirmed was the case.

that costs us £400 + VAT.  a very easy job for the surveyor for the money!

The survey report said to have the roof supports checked by a specialist because of the new “heavier roof coverings”. It is impossible to make a roof heavier if you just swap a few cracked tiles. So from that alone you’d assume it was major work. 

They could’ve asked me to tell them what work was done as I’d been to the house. 

But this is why I don’t think the seller deliberately lied - they probably didn’t know certification was needed. Or that if they told the conveyancer that it was “repaired with new tiles”, the conveyancer would not investigate further.

if we had all been properly advised, the seller could’ve shouldered the £400 application fee to have . 

This is why I feel this all sits firmly at the feet of the conveyancer. 

SmallClaimant123

Robin9 said:

If anyone should have notified Building Control it would have been the roofing contractor - unless it was DIY.


OP  - rest easy and move on . Nobody is going to bother.

I had a similar job - entire roof stripped, new felt. new battens and two complete rows of tiles added to correct the poor original 1973 build where the tiles didn't overlap properly. I didn't even think of Building Control.

It is more the issue of whether they used the correct tiles - lighter or heavier tiles can affect how roof holds together. And the surveyor said to get the roof assessed by a specialist. Which will also cost me money which the seller should’ve spent. 

I also know the insulation isn’t deep enough to have passed inspection. Then there is the cost of a BC inspection. 

Those three things alone will cost more than £1k. But I paid full price for a house that I thought had a nice perfect new roof, without being advised properly by solicitor. 

If nothing else I want to claim that money back from them in court 

Sapindus

SmallClaimant123 said:

Robin9 said:

If anyone should have notified Building Control it would have been the roofing contractor - unless it was DIY.


OP  - rest easy and move on . Nobody is going to bother.

I had a similar job - entire roof stripped, new felt. new battens and two complete rows of tiles added to correct the poor original 1973 build where the tiles didn't overlap properly. I didn't even think of Building Control.

It is more the issue of whether they used the correct tiles - lighter or heavier tiles can affect how roof holds together. And the surveyor said to get the roof assessed by a specialist. Which will also cost me money which the seller should’ve spent. 

I also know the insulation isn’t deep enough to have passed inspection. Then there is the cost of a BC inspection. 

Those three things alone will cost more than £1k. But I paid full price for a house that I thought had a nice perfect new roof, without being advised properly by solicitor. 

If nothing else I want to claim that money back from them in court 

If the surveyor said a specialist inspection was needed, you would have seen that in the survey and should have made the decision whether to act on their advice.

Not clear whether the lack of insulation was mentioned in the survey.  If it wasn't, not sure how you expect the conveyancer to be responsible for knowing this.

Tiglet2

SmallClaimant123 said:

AskAsk said:

Robin9 said:

If anyone should have notified Building Control it would have been the roofing contractor - unless it was DIY.


OP  - rest easy and move on . Nobody is going to bother.

I had a similar job - entire roof stripped, new felt. new battens and two complete rows of tiles added to correct the poor original 1973 build where the tiles didn't overlap properly. I didn't even think of Building Control.

we didn't know this either when we had a new roof istalled.  yes, the roofer should be the one that notifies building control and get the certificate but most roofers will not do this and if they do, they will want more for the job.

when we sold the house shortly afterwards, we were asked for the certificate and we applied for retrospective certificate.  the surveyor came to look at it and signed it off.  he didn't spend any time at all except just visually look at it and popped his head in the loft and asked if similar tiles were there before, which we confirmed was the case.

that costs us £400 + VAT.  a very easy job for the surveyor for the money!

The survey report said to have the roof supports checked by a specialist because of the new “heavier roof coverings”. It is impossible to make a roof heavier if you just swap a few cracked tiles. So from that alone you’d assume it was major work. 

They could’ve asked me to tell them what work was done as I’d been to the house. 

But this is why I don’t think the seller deliberately lied - they probably didn’t know certification was needed. Or that if they told the conveyancer that it was “repaired with new tiles”, the conveyancer would not investigate further.

if we had all been properly advised, the seller could’ve shouldered the £400 application fee to have . 

This is why I feel this all sits firmly at the feet of the conveyancer. 

The surveyor was telling you to get the roof supports checked by a specialist.  Did you?  The additional report could have been used to renegotiate the purchase price and/or enable the solicitor to raise additional enquiries in relation to this, when you forwarded them the report.  The cost of the additional survey is yours, but renegotiation of the purchase price would have clawed some of it back.

The solicitor will not ask you to tell them what work has been done to the property.  It is your job to tell them what work has been done and what your concerns are.

I am sorry but you will get nowhere suing a solicitor for not knowing about the state of the roof or for not enquiring about building regulations for something they could not know about. 

The solicitor looks at the paperwork given to them by the seller's solicitor.  They look at the section of the survey "for Legal Advisors" (if you have forwarded the survey to them).  If that section tells them to get a building regulations certificate, then that's what they need to do  If it doesn't say it, they won't know to get one.  That's it.  They do not read the survey or interpret any advice within it.  As a buyer, it is entirely up to you to query anything you're worried about, before exchange.

Purchasers need to understand that solicitors deal with the legal transfer of a property from one person to another, i.e. the conveyancing.  They don't deal with the maintenance and upkeep of the property.  The state of the property is the reason purchasers are encouraged to get surveys so they are aware of the maintenance issues following the purchase and it is in their interest to understand the costs involved prior to exchange.  Once exchange has taken place, you have accepted the responsibility of the property.

AskAsk

OP - you are determined not to listen to the many responses in this thread to tell you that you haven't got a leg to stand on and that you should have done more work before completion from the survey report.  it is for your information and for you to act.  if you chose to ignore it and hoped that your solicitor would deal with it instead of making your own efforts then you are going to waste money going to the small claims court as your claim will be rejected.

It is entirely your fault if you can't be bothered to deal with the survey report and take advice from it.  you can't blame the solicitors for your own ignorance and lack of input in this case.  they can't be expected to spoon feed you.

Forget about it and move on is my advice.

robatwork

You have 2 hopes, and one of them is Bob.

Good money after bad.

Necessary disclaimers:

YMMV
IMHO

SmallClaimant123

Ok, thanks everyone. Lesson learnt.

It’s truly pitiful that they charged me a large sum of money and just assumed when the seller said it was a “repair” to the roof, they assumed that meant it was a man spending an hour changing a few tiles and did nothing more about it. 

A repair is the work necessary to make something “fit for purpose”. Entirely open ended. If the sellers roof is riddled with holes and leaking like a sieve then the “repair” to make it watertight is to replace all of the tiles. 

As far as I am concerned, they should have followed up on this open ended statement and confirmed what roofing work was done.

I can’t think of another profession on this earth where you could be so flippant and put so little effort into following something up without anyone holding you to account.

“The patient said his arm didn’t hurt too much. And a broken bone hurts a lot. So I sent him home. It’s up to the patient to ask me to investigate further and send him for an xray, or else he should’ve gone to a private hospital and had his own xray done at his own expense and told me it was broken”

artyboy

SmallClaimant123 said:

Ok, thanks everyone. Lesson learnt.

It’s truly pitiful that they charged me a large sum of money and just assumed when the seller said it was a “repair” to the roof, they assumed that meant it was a man spending an hour changing a few tiles and did nothing more about it. 

A repair is the work necessary to make something “fit for purpose”. Entirely open ended. If the sellers roof is riddled with holes and leaking like a sieve then the “repair” to make it watertight is to replace all of the tiles. 

As far as I am concerned, they should have followed up on this open ended statement and confirmed what roofing work was done.

I can’t think of another profession on this earth where you could be so flippant and put so little effort into following something up without anyone holding you to account.

“The patient said his arm didn’t hurt too much. And a broken bone hurts a lot. So I sent him home. It’s up to the patient to ask me to investigate further and send him for an xray, or else he should’ve gone to a private hospital and had his own xray done at his own expense and told me it was broken”

Welcome to the world of property sales, caveat emptor...

Hoenir

SmallClaimant123 said:

“The patient said his arm didn’t hurt too much. And a broken bone hurts a lot. So I sent him home. It’s up to the patient to ask me to investigate further and send him for an xray, or else he should’ve gone to a private hospital and had his own xray done at his own expense and told me it was broken”

When the Doctor shows you the MRI scan and says you need to be refered to a Specialist Consultant. You should never assume that someone else is going to remind you to go to the appointment.