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Party Wall Surveyor Misrepresentation

Misrepresentation is inducing a consumer to enter into a contract by making a statement of fact (not opinion) before a contract is made. There are 3 types, Fraudulent, Negligent and Innocent and the remedies are cancelation of the contract and damages.

So if we take the scenario that an owner appoints a person who advises them, “anyone can be a party wall surveyor”, and their appointed party wall surveyor fails, because they are unable, to meet the degree of prudence and caution required of an individual who is under a duty of care (the obvious comparable benchmark is a surveyor registered within the Faculty of Architecture and Surveying of the CIOB or other Chartered Institutes) can action be taken against this individual?

The Party Wall Act suspends common law (Roadrunner – LJ Chadwick [2004]) and an award will not be interfered with by the courts ((Section 10 (16)) however The Misrepresentation Act allows, as above, after a contract has been performed/where the misrepresentation has become a term of the contract (implicit/explicit?), and therefore this is a possible course of redress against negligent Party Wall Surveyors. See also previous posts.

Party Wall Surveyor serving Thanet and London

Third Surveyor serving England and Wales

Bruce Spenser MSc LCGI
Bruce Spenser MSc LCGI