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- 24 Nov 2004
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Ive recently bought a house. private sale, in Scotland. I instructed a local RICS-registered surveyor to carry out a bomebuyers report for me. he visited the property and the report came back all A1 fine, no surprises. he charged £720 which I paid promptly.
On moving in, I discovered a soft & discoloured patch of plasterboard at skirting level, investigated and found there to be leaking windows x 5 on the main front elevation of the house.
Ive since fixed (touch wood) the problem, at cost of about £1k for parts & labour. I had to fix it rapidly for reasons of moving in.
My argument is that this damp problem was visibly evident in 2 locations: 1. front bedroom (where I found it) by mouldy& softened plasterboard.
2. lounge (not obvious on plasterboard due wooden dado panelling) by discoloured carpet tiles where the water had excaped out of the lining and onto the concrete slab floor.
Location 1 was obscured from immediate view by a small chair but it was not necessary to move the chair to see it (one could easily have looked behind the chair by standing in front of it and bending) furthermore it was easily possible to use a damp meter behind this chair.
Whilst this evidence of damp was not immediately obvious to any layman having a cursory glance inside the property I feel that it should have been picked up by a pro surveyor. (particularly given that the main elevation was vulnerable, with seashore very close to and that the elevation faces prevailing weather)
I have written to the surveyor intiially detailing all so far. I have not been in any way accusatory at this stage; I have merely stated the facts and the course of events so far, and I closed the letter by asking him what he would do were he in my position. He has responded with apologies, that he does not admit liability, and that no he saw no evidence of damp on the carpet tiles and it wasnt in a homebuyer service to "move soft furnishings". He has enclosed a cheque for half his fee as a gesture of goodwill.
I would appreciate any comments on this matter. I feel that the surveyor has indeed been negligent - in fact it seems to me that the whole thing could have been a setup that you sometimes see on those rogue trader programmes. but perhaps I am being harsh. I of course am left wondering what valiue I got for my £720 homebuyers report, and whether there might be any other faults or overlooked things in his report.
On moving in, I discovered a soft & discoloured patch of plasterboard at skirting level, investigated and found there to be leaking windows x 5 on the main front elevation of the house.
Ive since fixed (touch wood) the problem, at cost of about £1k for parts & labour. I had to fix it rapidly for reasons of moving in.
My argument is that this damp problem was visibly evident in 2 locations: 1. front bedroom (where I found it) by mouldy& softened plasterboard.
2. lounge (not obvious on plasterboard due wooden dado panelling) by discoloured carpet tiles where the water had excaped out of the lining and onto the concrete slab floor.
Location 1 was obscured from immediate view by a small chair but it was not necessary to move the chair to see it (one could easily have looked behind the chair by standing in front of it and bending) furthermore it was easily possible to use a damp meter behind this chair.
Whilst this evidence of damp was not immediately obvious to any layman having a cursory glance inside the property I feel that it should have been picked up by a pro surveyor. (particularly given that the main elevation was vulnerable, with seashore very close to and that the elevation faces prevailing weather)
I have written to the surveyor intiially detailing all so far. I have not been in any way accusatory at this stage; I have merely stated the facts and the course of events so far, and I closed the letter by asking him what he would do were he in my position. He has responded with apologies, that he does not admit liability, and that no he saw no evidence of damp on the carpet tiles and it wasnt in a homebuyer service to "move soft furnishings". He has enclosed a cheque for half his fee as a gesture of goodwill.
I would appreciate any comments on this matter. I feel that the surveyor has indeed been negligent - in fact it seems to me that the whole thing could have been a setup that you sometimes see on those rogue trader programmes. but perhaps I am being harsh. I of course am left wondering what valiue I got for my £720 homebuyers report, and whether there might be any other faults or overlooked things in his report.
