To take action against surveyors?

[CharlieD2020]

Our buyers instructed a surveyor to complete a survey on our home. The surveyor was very lovely to talk to (I was at home) and asked me about when the driveway was put down, but nothing else.

A week after the survey report goes to the buyer and I receive a call from the estate agent. Our buyers have pulled out. Because the survey has said that it could be that our loft has been used to grow marijuana...

This was because the loft was boarded, had some insulation put in, and a heat lamp was previously installed by the previous owner so he could use the space for his train hobby. We had a full rewiring done on the house when we bought it, and did a full renovation. There's no inch of this house we haven't seen. The gentleman who lived here before us lived here with his wife for many decades, before she passed away and he moved into a care home. Our neighbours knew them well. He was a train enthusiast. So it happens, so is my brother in law, and he had done exactly the same to his loft in his previous house. No questions were asked about that when they sold. It was just a perk that the loft was a bit more usable.

The buyers have taken this to mean our house was, in their words, a marijuana farm.

Firstly, this whole thing has been so upsetting. Our house is a family home, it's much loved by us. Any association of drug use is horrific. But financially, it has also cost us dearly. The market has changed since we accepted the offer and we will not be getting the same price again. We were getting ready to move into rented, had cardboard boxes ready, all systems go.

The surveyor didn't ask me anything about why the loft was boarded etc. He didn't lift the flooring up there to confirm that, no, the loft hasn't been completely destroyed from damp from all of the weed growing... (Something he said was a risk in his report). The whole thing is ridiculous and infuriating.

But, what can we do? In an ideal world we would get the surveyors to come back and rule out that there was ever marijuana grown in our loft, and we would pay for them to carry out whatever report, so this could then be shared with our previous buyers (who were chain free, and I feel sorry for them, this must have been really off putting for them), so that the buyers change their mind, buy our house, and it clears out name again. But I think the buyers are really out now.

So, what can I do? Complain to RICS? What else?

I'm so ashamed that anyone would think this of our lovely house that I can't bring myself to tell people why our buyers pulled out. The estate agents think it's absurd too, they've never come across anything like this before.

Did you tell him heat lamp installed?

in any event - you don’t have a leg to stand on

and your buyers would have pulled out later down the line if they pulled out over this

I'm so ashamed that anyone would think this of our lovely house that I can't bring myself to tell people why our buyers pulled out

bloomin heck… I would be telling everyone!

You'd be wasting your time trying to take legal action against the surveyors. The comment that it "could" have previously been used to grow drugs isn't a statement that it "was" used for that purpose.

Put it down to experience and make it clear to the next interested party and their surveyor what the reason for the loft being in that state are.

You can't complain because their wording was clearly outlining a possibility, they did not claim that that WAS what it was boarded over for, just it "might have been". All surveyors word their reports like this so there are no repercussions to them if the report is misunderstood. It's quite common for buyers to get the wind up over the wording of surveyors' reports; they might say "this property has Artex material to the ceilings which may contain asbestos" and all your buyers will see is ASBESTOS, RUN! 😱

All you can do is market again and stress to any viewers that the loft is boarded and heated due a previous occupant's train set, isn't that fortunate that it makes it such a usable space? and move on.

It is quite possible that the changing market also has been noticed by your buyers and they have pulled out because they actually feel they would be overpaying at the agreed price, so the surveyors' report has given them an excuse, however flimsy. You're unlikely to ever know, best to draw a line under them and get marketing again.

I think your buyers were probably looking for an out if they pulled out over this. As you say, very different market and probably felt they were paying above the odds.

I think if I were in their shoes I'd have been pretty freaked out too though... I think they are first time buyers.

We went to closed bids on our house and their offer was the highest, and by some margin, so I did wonder if they felt they were paying over the odds now that the market is changing.

They wouldn't even hear reason from us or the estate agents though, wouldn't even answer any calls from the estate agent, and just sent emails saying that they don't want to live in an area where there is drug use/selling. Which is just so sad because we live in a very desirable and expensive city and I feel so so safe here. We haven't had even the slightest touch of antisocial behaviour.

I hear what you're all saying about the surveyor's wording getting them off the hook, but surely they should have to answer for not even asking me about the loft whilst they were here and we were chatting about our dogs and I was making him hot drinks? Or not looking at it properly and they could have just looked at the flooring and wouldn't have needed to say that everything could be rotten up there from all of the damp... Just lacking all common sense and costing us so much as a result?

I get your frustration OP, but this is the nature of the way houses are bought and sold in the UK. Complain to the suryevor - it might make them think twice in the future - but I doubt you'd get anything out of further "action" against them.

We had a buyer pull out because the surveyor told her the en suite in the attic was not vented to the outside but was pouring wet air into the (still miraculously dry) loft space.

If he or the buyer has asked we could have shown them the photos taken during installation of the venting- which fed into an existing vent to the outside and was checked by the building inspector.

However I would echo what others have said - buyers who are really keen do not pull out without investigating further and although it was VERY frustrating and expensive at the time , I think as a FTB she wasn’t ready to take on an old house and was looking for an excuse.

Are your estate agents not able to step in and explain?

Thanks all. I'm not sure how to tag people in replies but thanks Cathpot and the estate agents tried, the buyers just wouldn't entertain our explanation or hear any more about it. Just said they had made up their mind.

Appreciate all of the replies. I guess we may just have to let it go, and never use those surveyors for our own surveys

We complained to RICS years ago, when the bloke who did a survey on the house next door reported that our house was underpinned and was still moving. We were a bit stunned as we had purchased it about 18 months earlier and had had a full survey. Also the vendors had moved next door the other side. They had purchased it from new and it hadn't been underpinned.

We found out as the same estate agent had handled our sale and he rang us, a bit shocked.

I complained, and although they couldn't handle it, they passed the comments to the surveyor who contacted the potential purchaser to correct the report. It was too late for my lovely neighbours who lost their sale.

I would contact RICS and hope they draw this to the attention of the surveyor.

The market has changed since we accepted the offer and we will not be getting the same price again.

We went to closed bids on our house and their offer was the highest, and by some margin

^This is probably why they've pulled out. They've used the report as an excuse. They've realised they're overstretched.

I know you said you wouldn't use that surveyor for your own surveys, but if a potential purchaser instructs them, or your purchaser offers to sell the survey on, which I think they can do in some circumstances, you will have the same problem. It might be worth contacting the surveyor to inform him of the reason loft is boarded etc.
However, it might be that he said nothing of the sort but they were looking for a way out. My parents had a sale drop through due to a "bad survey" and it turned out that the purchaser wanted to convert their large house to self contained flats, but the likely costs were prohibitive. (Mum and dad could have told them that as they had wanted to do something similar to accomodate the grandparents.)