Any advice much appreciated-disaster

davmol

Right,the issue is-We bought a house 4 years ago.There is a 1 storey extension at the back which was built 10+ years ago before we bought the house.We have had many problems with the extension since we bought it.

Initially,we had rats due to the builders leaving holdes in the base of the wall.After a large expense we got it sorted.
Then,we notice the extension roof was leaking and it stained the roof.I got someone out ,a roofer,and he put on new slates.
A couple of weeks later,we had water dripping through a spot light in the extension roof so we got a roofer out and he explained we will need to reslate the roof with new tiles while putting in some water proof felt.
This will cost 1k+.We were advised by 2 seperate roofers this was due to capillary action of the tiles as the extension was built and the gradient of the slates was too low so caused this water to seep through the roof.


The problem is this extension has caused us so much problems and financial cost.We had a surveyer come out and look at the extension and the roofers said he should have spotted the gradient was too low which caused the leak.He gave the house a clean bill of health(there was many problems-house needed to be rewired due to shorting amongst many other things).Basically,he spotted none of the issues we had and so missed them all and this resulted in us spending thousands repairing the work.I am so frustrated and wondered if i have any rights to take legal action against him.I still have his report which indicates everything was fine but it says in the report its a visual inspection.

Surely ,i can go after him as we paid for this report which spotted none of the problems we had and resulted in us being out of pocket for thousands.

ALso, I got in contact with the sellers of the house through the estate agents and they cant remember who the builder was.Is there any way I could find out and maybe sue them for disastrous work which has caused untold strain on us.

any help much appreciated.

A fella called fish

When you say 'surveyor' - what exactly was he? If he's an engineer then his report will deal with nothing but structural issues, however this would have been made clear to you in his fee proposal.

In reality, you can't sue the surveyor for the report because it's based on a visual inspection and isn't worth the paper it's written on.

You won't have much luck with the original builder either, even if you do manage to find him. These cases are going on all over the country, on much larger scales sometimes affecting entire housing estates. A friend of mine is dealing with one such case at the moment and the solicitors can't get anywhere with the builder. Unfortunate, but you're stuck with it.

davmol

Thanks for your reply.

Hes listed as a chartered Structural engineer .On the front of the report it just says ' Report on (address)'.

He wrote in the report 'House appears to have been rewired' also.THe house had to be completely rewired as there were exposed wires in the house which sparked when kicked-could have killed a child.He didnt notice any of that.ALso,being a structural engineer he should have spotted the slates/roof was not built at an apt angle so is causing this leaking into the house?

A fella called fish

I'm a chartered Struct. Eng. myself and don't do these reports anymore, nor does my company, because we're obliged to comment on structure only - but all the structure is covered up in most houses. An Architect or specialist surveyor would provide a far more comprehensive report and this would dead with issues such as roof pitch/weathering details etc etc.

A structural engineer's report would not deal with roof pitch . If however something that was non structural looked blatently/completely wrong he might make a comment in this regard, but as a Structural Engineer he's not obliged to (this should usually be made clear on page 1). As I said, not worth the paper it's written on which is why I don't do them.

Nonetheless, the real issue is with the original designer/builder, not some guy who looked at it 10 years later. But I'm yet to hear a success story in this regard. By all means though, chase the builder/original designer and keep on his back!

Poor Uncle Tom

davmol wrote: »

......if i have any rights to take legal action against him........

Surely ,i can go after him as we paid for this report.......

From the forum charter:

6.2 All genuine planning queries can be debated providing legal advice is not being sought. Comments on grounds for objections and appeals are acceptable providing they conform to the above.

Please contact your solicitor for relevant advice.

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