Cases - Spencer-Ward v Humberts

Record details

Name

Spencer-Ward v Humberts

Date

[1995]

Citation

6 EG 148, CA

Keywords

Negligence in valuations and surveys

Summary

The claimant purchased a house in 1984, relying on a valuation report provided by the defendants to the building society, which lent money to the purchasers on mortgage. On 27 June 1988 the claimant wrote to the building society, stating that the property was of concrete sectional construction, that the valuation report had not mentioned this and that the construction might well be defective. On 28 June 1991 (more than 6 years from the date of purchase, and therefore outside the basic limitation period) the claimant started an action for negligence against the valuers. The valuers raised the defence of limitation, whereupon the claimant argued that he was still within the limitation period created by section 14A, since he did not have sufficient knowledge of the material facts about his claim. The Court of Appeal rejected this argument and held that the claim was statute-barred.

The court stated that 'knowledge', for this purpose, does not mean 'know for certain and beyond possibility of contradiction'. It means know with sufficient confidence to embark on the preliminaries to legal proceedings such as submitting a claim to the defendant, seeking legal and other advice and collecting evidence. Vague and unsupported suspicion is not enough, but reasonable belief will be. It was clear on these facts that, at the time of his earlier letter, the claimant had sufficient knowledge to start the 3-year limitation period running.