A leading provider of professional negligence disputes

The implications of legal advice can be far reaching and if the advice is wrong it may be that there are serious financial consequences. Claims against former solicitors include missed court limitation dates, incorrectly served break notices, incorrect property titles, mishandling of corporate transactions and incorrectly drafted trust deeds.

The type of survey undertaken will dictate the level of detail expected in the surveyors report. There may be serious issues that come to light after a property purchase that your surveyor may have overlooked in their report, for example structural issues with an extension, extensive damp, non-traditional construction methods or subsidence.

An Independent Financial Advisor ("IFA") should undertake a full assessment of a client's financial circumstances, assess their risk, provide continuous advice on decisions made on their behalf and to keep everything under review throughout their instruction. Problems can arise when investments are made that are not in keeping with a client's appetite for risk or decisions, or decisions made without the client's mandate or knowledge.

Whether the accountant is negligent may depend upon which organisation they are regulated by, and the scope of the work they are undertaking, as different rules apply. For example, incorrect advice on taxation has caused either a penalty or increase in what is owing to HMRC. More complex situations arise where loss is either yet to crystalise or is more difficult to quantify in which case further expert advice may be sought.

Sometimes it is only after the borrower has defaulted on the loan and the lender obtained possession that issues with the valuation come to light. If the valuer failed to report upon issues that affected the value of the property at the date the report was originally prepared, it may be possible to bring a claim against the valuer.

The architect's contract will set out the scope of the work together with any other responsibilities they have during a project. Claims against architects will often involve inadequate building design, inadequate supervision of building contractors or mishandling of project costs.

As with all negligence claims, when investigating a claim against a professional we would need to determine whether they had breached their professional duty of care to their client. Such an assessment will often involve the instruction of an independent expert within the same field to review and report upon the actions undertaken by the potentially negligent professional and show such breach caused a loss to be suffered.