More claims against surveyors as losses bite
There was a jump in the number of professional negligence claims brought against surveyors and estate agents last year, says law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain. This suggests that claims relating to property values are now reaching the courts, as banks and investors try to recover some of their losses following the collapse in commercial property values during the credit crunch.
The firm says that there were 25 residential and commercial High Court cases against estate agents or surveyors last year, after just one claim in the whole of the previous five years (that case was in 2008).
RPC partner Alexandra Anderson points out that banks and investors have been under severe pressure to recover their losses on property market loans, including launching negligence claims against the surveyors who originally provided the valuations for loans.
Anderson says there have been claims that surveyors and estate agents overvalued premises such as shopping centres that subsequently dived in value as tenants became insolvent in the recession. There have also been claims that the cost of putting development work on hold during the recession was negligently undervalued.
“There can sometimes be a ready assumption that when property prices fall because of a drop in the market the surveyor who valued the property is to blame. But even if the valuation was inaccurate that doesn’t necessarily mean there was negligence on the part of the surveyor,” she points out.
