Major issue hidden from survey

[jackiesgirl]

Does anybody know if there is any recourse if a seller deliberately concealed a
major issue from the surveyor? We paid for a level 3 survey and after completion found an issue that cost thousands to fix. There were signs of partial attempts to fix it so they were definitely aware but it seems they may have deliberately hidden it from the surveyor.

What’s the major issue?

I don’t want to say in case they see it, but it’s structural

Is the fault not with the surveyor?

No, there’s no way he could have known about it. Large heavy furniture was arranged in a specific way to hide it. Could be coincidence, could be on purpose

How did they hide it

When you have a survey done on your house for a sale, in my experience you don’t tell the surveyor anything - they survey independently.

I would agree that it’s down to the survey , when I sold my last house the buyers paid for the premium type, the man opened the lift hatch and looked up , didn’t go in and spent approx 40 minutes of the hour he was
there playing with my puppy ( not code ! ) . That alone would put me off paying a premium price in future .

Why would it matter if anyone saw the thread?

The fault lies with your surveyor - they most likely won’t have had any dealings with the sellers as they are working for you

I think you need to go back to your surveyor in the first instance and ask for an explanation of why they didn’t pick it up. I suspect You’d likely need to prove active lying/deception in documents rather than a DIY bodge etc; caveat emptor and all.

The surveyor will have professional insurance to cover claims for things they have missed and for which they may be liable.

It's down to the surveyor. Have you contacted them to discuss the issue?

Surely a major structural fault couldn't be disguised by the placement of furniture.

Having seen your update, furniture placement is not enough; a decent surveyor should be looking under/over/behind things- or at least note where they couldn’t access /see something and then its on you as buyer to either dig/push/pay more re getting access to thoroughly check, or accept the sight unseen risk

According to RICS guidelines i believe it says they shouldn’t move furniture, or empty built in wardrobes or lift carpets, etc….not even on a level 3. So don’t think there is any come back on them.

with the previous owner they will just deny they did it on purpose. They’ll say something like as far as they were concerned they’d repaired it and it was now fine. Very hard to prove otherwise and it’s not their responsibility to raise potential issues.

Yes. My friend bought a house that had dry rot concealed. The house insurance provided legal cover and they sued the surveyor who joined in the previous owners. Previous owners ended up paying majority of bill. But it took 6 years and cost a lot of time and energy! She had to do a lot of sleuthing herself including finding company who had partially treated the dry rot and builder who’d been employed to paint over it etc.

The surveyor does not force or open up the fabric of the building without
occupier/owner consent, or if there is a risk of causing personal injury or damage. This
includes taking up fitted carpets and fitted floor coverings or floorboards; moving heavy
furniture; removing the contents of cupboards, roof spaces, etc. removing secured
panels and/or hatches; or undoing electrical fittings

https://www.rics.org/content/dam/ricsglobal/documents/standards/description_of_the_rics_home_survey_level_3.pdf

Says heavy furniture…how heavy was it?

my parents sold a house with a plant growing through the middle of the living room floor and put a pouffe over it and got away with it!

😂

There is usually a caveat in a survey where it was not possible to inspect areas

Regardless of the surveyor's competence, householders are obliged to declare known structural issues when they sell, aren't they? Even if OP hadn't had a survey, if they've done partial repairs but failed to declare, I thought they were at fault and liable? Of course, proving that might be difficult, so I understand why people might prefer to try and go after the surveyor, but isn't it best to cover alll bases?

You need to go back to the solicitor that did the conveyancing for advice, sharing all of the details that you don't want to share here.

😂

My understanding is the surveyor’s meant to rely on their visual inspection, not disclosure from the seller.

We had a structural survey, recommended after a RICS level 3, which missed a major issue. There was a chair in front of the main problem but there were lots of smaller signs (e.g cracks/recent repairs in external brickwork, wonky windowsills, etc) that they missed.

It took a long time but we got our costs back from the structural engineer’s public liability insurance. We didn’t try to take action against our seller, I think they genuinely didn’t appreciate how serious the problem was but an expert should.

The solicitor may have a view from previous cases which ones were successful/which failed and what the circs were (case studies they can share.)

I would think they also may help you negotiate with the surveyor (which could save time) as they'd probably be keen to avoid court, if there seems to be a basis.

They would also take a cold, hard look at the terms of business you signed with the surveyor.

Yeah I know when we moved and our buyers had a survey done, he didn’t move our furniture.