Cases - Fisher v Knowles

Record details

Name

Fisher v Knowles

Date

[1982]

Citation

1 EGLR 154

Keywords

Negligence in valuations and surveys

Summary

The claimant house purchasers applied to a building society for a mortgage loan and the building society instructed the defendant surveyor to carry out a mortgage valuation. The claimants asked the defendant at the same time to carry out an inspection for them (it is not clear from the law report whether there was any written communication between the parties). Four years after moving in, the claimants brought an action against the defendant, alleging that he had negligently overlooked a number of defects in the property.

The judge found that what the defendant had been instructed to carry out was something more than a bare mortgage valuation but less than a structural survey. He was to provide a report on the general state of the property and to draw attention to those matters that might give rise to suspicion, as, for example, springing floors or a musty smell, requiring further investigation in the nature of a structural survey. He was further to report on anything serious enough that the claimants might withdraw from the sale or seek to bargain for a reduction in the price. Having analysed the defendant's instructions, the judge held him liable for failing to report on rot in window frames and defects in joists and door joinery, but not for a number of other less important items.