Platform Funding Ltd v Bank of Scotland plc [2008] EWCA Civ 930
Breach of contract and the contractual obligations of professional persons.
Facts
A surveyor was instructed by a mortgage lender to inspect and value property on 1 Bakers Yard offered by a borrower as the security for a loan. The surveyor, accordingly, provided a signed certificate that 1 Bakers Yard was inspected and valued. In fact, the surveyor had instead inspected 5 Bakers Yard, of different value. When the borrower was in default, the lender sold the property and discovered the mistake. The lender sued the surveyor for breach of his obligations under the retainer agreement.
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Issues
The question arose as to (1) the professional obligations of the surveyor under the retainer agreement; and/or (2) the construction of the signed certificate.
Decision/Outcome
The Court of Appeal dismissed the bank’s appeal by a majority. A professional retainer normally requires reasonable skill and care, but its terms can impose an unqualified obligation. On these instructions, the surveyor had undertaken to inspect the specified property, No 1 Bakers Yard. The appeal proceeded on the assumption that the surveyor exercised reasonable care. Inspecting No 5 nevertheless breached that undertaking.
The majority also held that the certificate warranted that the property offered as security had been inspected. That assurance was distinct from the surveyor’s opinion of market value. Sir Anthony Clarke MR dissented, construing both the retainer and certificate as imposing only a duty of reasonable skill and care.
Reported citations [2009] 2 WLR 1016, [2009] QB 426, [2009] 2 All ER 344
