publications monitor Winter 2007 Duty of care for building surveyors | Duty of care for building surveyors |
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Local councils and their advisers should review their building certification and inspection processes following the decision by the Victorian Court of Appeal in Moorabool Shire Council –v–Taitapanui [2006]. This case involved a statutory building surveyor who had issued a building permit for the construction of a house. This surveyor was later held liable and his then employer, the local council, was held vicariously liable for negligence concerning the design and construction of the premises. The Victorian Court of Appeal’s decision seems to extend the principles of Bryan –v– Maloney (involved builders) and later Woolcock Street Investment – High Court 2006 (involving engineers). Both cases resolved that later purchasers of residential property (with no contractual relationship) could sue builders and designers for negligence concerning design and construction. While the Court of Appeal considered these previous cases, it did not definitively decide the case on those authorities. The Court said: “It need hardly be said that for most the purchase of a home is a major personal decision, but the structural soundness of a home is of first importance and that homes are often enough the subject of re-sale”. “It appears to us that it would be anomalous if the issue of a building permit under the statutory scheme, its issue being conveyed to a prospective purchaser, did not give rise to a duty of care of the kind here contended for”.
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