Cases - Swansea Building Society v Bradford & Bingley (t/a BBG Surveyors)
Record details
- Name
- Swansea Building Society v Bradford & Bingley (t/a BBG Surveyors)
- Date
- [2003]
- Citation
- PNLR 740
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Negligence in valuations and surveys - Limitation Act 1980, s. 14A
- Summary
-
The claimant building society 'S' engaged the defendant surveyor ‘B’ to value a property. The report was produced in 1989 and S advanced a mortgage loan to the purchaser in reliance upon it. The report turned out to have been negligently conducted, failing to note potential defects in the building materials used. There had been a subsequent surveyor’s report in 1991 which had also failed to note the defect. A further report in 1994 indicated that there might have been the use of defective materials in the property. A final report was commissioned in 1998 by an expert on the building materials in question. It stated that the defective material used was a risk to the structural integrity of the property and that the earlier reports should have made this clear. S issued proceedings in 2001 and B defended that the claim was outside of the limitation period.
The court held that although the 1998 report clarified matters, S had constructive knowledge of the potential defect for the purposes of section 14A of the Limitation Act from the 1994 report onwards. Even if there was uncertainty at that time S was under an obligation to investigate further and failed to act diligently in not instructing an expert until 1998.
Constructive knowledge under section 14A of the Limitation Act 1980 may be established where facts ought to give rise to a reasonable suspicion of negligence but where no further investigation is made.
Where facts engender a reasonable suspicion of negligence, claimants should investigate and if necessary issue protective proceedings to avoid limitation problems.