Worth pursuing a claim against surveyor?

[INeedCharcoalPants]

I've been posting on the Property section in recent days about a structural issue in the house I moved into three weeks ago. We were told by a builder this week that when the kitchen was extended, a supporting wall was knocked down and no supporting beam installed overhead. This work was done over 15 years ago. When we viewed the house we didn't realise the kitchen was extended as we had never been in a house of that style before and the vendor never mentioned it either. We called the builder in when we noticed the floor above was sagging slightly after pulling up a carpet.

We looked back at the survey done by the vendor (homebuyers, we didn't go for a full survey as there was nothing concerning on the homebuyers one) and there is no mention anywhere of the kitchen having been extended or of a supporting wall having been removed. My solicitor advised that if this had been mentioned, she would have looked into it further but as it wasn't, she could only go on the information she was presented with when looking into previous work carried out.

So now we are going to be out of pocket to have this rectified. If we had known about this, we wouldnt have bought the house as it would have been too stressful and disruptive to sort. We have two school age children and I'm a final year student, supposed to be going on final placement and completing a dissertation this month, both of which are likely going to be delayed due to all of this stress. Is it worth pursuing some kind of claim here? I've heard it's very difficult to get a surveyor to admit fault. We are in Scotland, if that makes a difference.

What is the fault you believe of the surveyor here? The home buyers report is pretty basic and doesn't really identify any behind the scenes problem. So if visually the property looks fine then that's all they'll look at.
You may have better recourse against the vendor who should have mentioned this in the pre exchange questions? Review those in detail as normally I think they ask if any major work was undertaken

I called the surveyor on Thursday to speak to him about this, he told me he mentioned the kitchen extension in the report and said it was on my solicitor to follow this up. My solicitor reviewed the HR again and said it was definitely not mentioned. Surveyor also told me that the vendor said to him on his visit that the work had been done. The vendor signed an affidavit to say that to her knowledge, there was no other alterations to the house. When I emailed my solicitor to point this out, she didn't seem concerned about it.

Well if he said he mentioned it and it was not mentioned then you do have a case against the surveyor.
Why ask your solicitor though? Read it yourself thoroughly, you should have had a copy.
The surveyor will.have professional indemnity insurance so that should cover costs. I don't know the Scottish legal system but maybe your solicitor can advise how you'd take action

I went back to my solicitor because he was basically trying to pass the buck and I had no access to my copy of the survey at that time.

In the section of the HR where something like this should have been commented upon, he only said "historic alterations have been carried out". There is an extension on the house (separate from the kitchen) and he obviously discussed this in the HR but no talk anywhere of the kitchen itself having had work done to it

Unlikely to succeed if you only had a homebuyers report. This is a basic level report mainly saying that the value of the property is more than the mortgage.

Well if it says historical alterations have been carried out and it didn't specify anything more than that ie where. You're not going to have much luck because the kitchen extension is a historical alteration so is covered by the sentence. It was then up to you and your solicitor to ask the vendor about these historical alterations if that was of significance to you.
Again, the pre exchange questions should include things like works having been done so it may be better to look at vendor rather than surveyor.
Get a full copy of those questions and answers from your solicitor if you don't have it

Maybe if he had actually mentioned in his report that the kitchen had been opened up then I would have known that by 'historical alterations' he meant not just the side extension but the kitchen too? I'm not a mind reader. He obviously knew about it going by the conversation we had

So if you think that he didn't put sufficient detail in the report that's going to be a bit trickier. Then it's about your expectations of detail vs what is the standard for surveyors.
I'd contact another surveyor and ask them what they would have said in this circumstances and what they would have interpreted by the term historical alterations.

I’m in Scotland also and know full well that the homebuyers report is nonsense. They pretty much say whatever the sellers want it to say and will downplay or be very vague about most areas. Always get a survey.

If he had written down that alterations have been done then he is covered. It’s up to
you to go further and look into those alterations.

You’re also being very dramatic. You’re going to postpone your dissertation and final
placement because you need to do some home improvements? It’s adding a support. It’s fine. The house hasn’t fallen down and it won’t fall down in the next few weeks. Just get some quotes and book someone in to sort it. It really isn’t a big deal and you’re being ridiculous to say that the stress is going to stop you graduation. Really, grow up.

It really is accepted that the homebuyers report is incredibly basic. Pretty much just confirms that there is a house and what it is valued at with a little run down of some basic info about it. You’re not going to get anywhere.

Accept your mistake in not following up the report with a survey and get the work booked in. Continue with your dissertation. This really isn’t something to change your life or plans over. It’s a bit of work.

You cannot only pay for the most basic survey and then complain that it’s too basic. It says historic alteration. It was a historic alteration. I don’t think you can complain about this one.

Thanks for the sympathetic comments @Itslegitimatesalvage . I wonder if you would speak to people IRL this way, or is it just those on the Internet you enjoy doing it to?

@PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister you're likely right on this. We went top of budget as we were continually being outbid and it looked like the house had little needing done to it so we didn't get a full survey. Costly mistake for us I know

@INeedCharcoalPants

Sometimes people need a bit of tough love so yes, I do in real life or online.

You’re not a single parent. You’re not alone. You’re not going through something horrific. Your house needs a bit of work, that’s all. Put it into perspective. You’re actually considering postponing your dissertation, your placement… your graduation! because your house needs a bit of work? You have another adult in your house, together you can handle this. Get some quotes, book the work in. The house is fine for now. If anything else comes out once you get people in to look then maybe that’s when to re-evaluate and consider if it’s a full renovation then maybe you need to be more hands on. But for now? Really, it’s a bit of work. Don’t postpone your education because of “stress” over a bit of work on the house when you’re not alone to handle it.