Cases - PK Finans International (UK) Ltd v Andrew Downs & Co Ltd

Record details

Name

PK Finans International (UK) Ltd v Andrew Downs & Co Ltd

Date

[1992]

Citation

1 EGLR 172

Keywords

Negligence in valuations and surveys

Summary

The defendants provided the claimant finance company with a valuation for lending purposes of a property to be used as a nursing home and sheltered housing. In carrying out this valuation, the defendants assumed that statements made by the property owners as to planning consents were accurate; they did not seek to check these statements with the planning authority, nor did they warn the claimants of the need to check, although RICS guidance notes suggested that this should normally be done. In holding that the defendants had not been guilty of negligence in this respect, the judge noted that the claimants were a financial institution and were therefore experienced in lending on property. He went on to say:

'These guidance notes are not to be regarded as a statute. I suspect they are as much for the protection of surveyors as anything else, in that they set out various recommendations ... In any event, mere failure to comply with the guidance notes does not necessarily constitute negligence.'