Legal and General Mortgage Services v HPC Professional Services: 1997

The claimant submitted that he was entitled to succeed in his claim gthat a valuation was negligent, either by showing that the valuer’s final figure was outside the bracket within which any competent valuer using reasonable skill and care could have valued the property (‘the result route’), or that by failing to exercise such skill and care he valued the property at an incorrect figure, albeit a figure within the appropriate bracket (‘the method route’).
Held: When looking at a property valuation to see if it was negligently prepared the court first asks whether the result was within the proper range of valuation results. Then once it is shown that the valuation falls outside the ‘bracket’ the plaintiff will by that stage have discharged an evidential burden. It will be for the defendant to show that, notwithstanding that the valuation is outside the range within which careful and competent valuers may reasonably differ, he nonetheless exercised the degree of care and skill which was appropriate in the circumstances.

Judges:

Judge Langan QC

Citations:

[1997] PNLR 567

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedLloyds TSB Bank Plc v Edward Symmons and Partners TCC 12-Mar-2003
The defendants had carried out a survey and valuation for the claimants, who now sought damages alleging that the valuer had miscalculated the area of the premises, omitting certain areas which would affect the value.
Held: In order to make . .
CitedGoldstein v Levy Gee ( A Firm) ChD 1-Jul-2003
There had been a dispute between shareholders, and the defendant was called upon to value the company. He issued a tender for valuers to value the properties. Complaint was made that the tender was negligent in its description of the basis for . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Professional Negligence

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.182924