Expert Witness Reports
There are a number of situations where surveyors within the practice are appointed to act as expert witness, subject to the Civil Procedures Rules. These new rules are set out to minimise the amount of time disputing parties spend in court, and hence minimising costs. (Before these rules, expert witness reports were sometimes biased towards their respective clients, making for long drawn-out court cases).
For owners of residential properties, our services are usually required by property owners to settle legal disputes over builders workmanship and materials, or in respect of boundary disputes. As litigation is usually expensive, we always endeavour to resolve disputes before they reach this stage, where this is possible without unduly compromising the clients position or rights.
From the builder’s point of view, our services are often required where a contractor has undertaken reasonable work, but there customer is withholding monies for any given reason – say relating to a dispute about a minor issue within the contract.