TheBoySaunders.com

Copy of a letter sent to Complete Preservation Cowboys:

Dear Sirs

Damp Inspection on 32 Cross Road, Croydon

I refer to my e-mail of xxxxxx, to which you have not had the courtesy to reply. As you will know, on our instructions Complete Preservation Services conducted a damp and roof survey at the above address on xxxxxxxx, in connection with our proposed purchase of that property. The roof survey report dated xxxxxxx specifically said that there were no problems with the roof. The damp survey report dated xxxxx stated that work was required at ground floor, and included a quote for that work. Subsequently I instructed Complete Preservation Services to survey a section of a first-floor wall, which had been referred to in the building survey report which we obtained on the premises, and also to advise on the possibility of installing a French Drain. Your second report, dated xxxxxx, contained an amended quote for the installation of the drain but no mention of the first-floor wall, and it was our natural assumption that no action was required in respect of this.

When we moved into the property we discovered that the first-floor wall was in fact damp and that the damp was caused by a problem with the roof. When this matter was raised with Complete Preservation Services, your response was that no instructions to inspect those areas were in fact received. We would dispute this and have a clear statement from the Estate Agent that the instructions were communicated to you, but that point aside it remains the case that, despite two inspections of the premises by your firm, a clear and obvious area of damp was missed. This is a straightforward failure by you to meet the standards expected of a firm which holds itself out as having expertise in conducting damp surveys.

We have received quotations for remedial action. The roof will have to be repaired and the wall will have to be treated, at a total cost of £570.  Our arrangements with the vendors of the property were that they would pay for any remedial action required in respect of damp. Had your survey picked up the obvious problems, the vendors of the property would have paid for the work to be done. As it is, your negligent breach of contract has left us with a potential bill of £570.

We are not content to leave matters as they stand. As Complete Preservation Services are not prepared to carry out the necessary remedial work without charge, we have accepted the quotation of £570 and seek to recover this sum from you.

I look forward to your urgent response to this e-mail. If we have not received a satisfactory response within seven days then we will institute legal proceedings to recover the sum in question. You will appreciate that the inevitable judgment against you will also include any court fee that we incur in bringing the proceedings, and it is therefore in everyone’s interest that this matter is settled quickly and amicably.

Yours faithfully

I’d pay us…