Cases - GP & P v Bulcraig

Record details

Name

GP & P v Bulcraig

Date

[1986]

Citation

2 EGLR 148

Keywords

Estate agency

Summary

A firm of surveyors had been instructed by the plaintiffs to find suitable office accommodation. Offices were found, and the plaintiffs took a lease. It was subsequently discovered that a planning condition restricted use of part of the ground floor to offices in connection with the printing trade. The plaintiff sued its solicitors and surveyors for failing to discover the true planning position. The judge at first instance found that it is common practice for surveyors to make an informal inquiry by telephone of the clerk on duty in the planning office. In the absence of express and more onerous instructions the duty of care does not require a search in the formal sense. However, the answer obtained may extend the duty to make further enquiries on the one hand and to alert the client or their solicitor on the other. This is a question of reasonable care and professional judgement. On the facts, there was no evidence to show that the surveyor had acted negligently when his enquiries from the rating and planning departments failed to reveal the planning restriction.