In carrying out a building survey of a house for the claimant purchasers, the defendant failed to detect evidence of subsidence and settlement. Within 3 years of the purchase, the house had slipped on the clay on which it was built, was markedly tilting towards the road and was effectively worthless. It was held that the surveyor was negligent; he should have been alerted by the steeply sloping site, clear evidence of subsidence in the adjoining road and the fact that the house, which was only 4 years old, had already been extensively repointed.
