Valuers Negligence

The huge fall in the value of property since September 2008 has brought with it the inevitable increase in professional negligence claims by lenders and investors against valuers, and in a minority of cases allegations of fraudulent valuations have been made.

Like other professionals valuers have a duty to exercise reasonable skill and care. This doesn't mean that they are obliged to get the value exactly right. When considering a valuation one of the factors the court takes into account is what a competent valuer would regard as the correct range of values, or margin of error, to be applied to the property in question. If the alleged negligent valuation falls outside the range then the valuation may be negligent.

As well as banks and other secured lenders, buy-to-let investors were very active in the buoyant property market that ended in 2008. Over-ambitious rental and capital valuation have lead to a large number of valuer negligence claims by investors whose expectations have been disappointed.

As with all claims it is best to obtain advice as early as possible. We can advise on the merits of claim, mitigation, procedures and funding; and we can help in presenting the case and dealing with valuers' insurers. These sorts of claims, like claims against other professionals, may be suitable cases for conditional fee agreements.