Cases - Anglia Hastings & Thanet Building Society v House & Son

Record details

Name

Anglia Hastings & Thanet Building Society v House & Son

Date

[1981]

Citation

2 EGLR 17

Legislation

Civil Procedure Rules 1998

Keywords

Negligence in valuations and surveys

Summary

Valuers acting for the claimant mortgage lender were guilty of negligence in providing valuations that even their own expert witness described as 'wildly wrong'. Having settled the lenders' claim against them, the valuers then sought compensation against a firm of solicitors who had advised the claimants on the same transaction, on the grounds that they had failed to inform the building society of certain matters (including serious conflicts of interest by the solicitors themselves), which, if disclosed, would have convinced the building society not to grant a mortgage. It was held that the bulk of the blame was to be attributed to the solicitors, from whom the valuers were therefore entitled to recover a contribution of 70%.