Other specialist valuation

Beyond our core specialisms, Richard Kay FRICS and Henrietta Hammonds FRICS FCIArb undertake a range of other specialist valuation work, primarily as expert witnesses in disputes and litigation. 

Valuation in professional negligence claims 

We are frequently instructed in professional negligence claims against surveyors, solicitors and other professional advisors where the central valuation question is: what should the property have been valued at? These are retrospective valuations — assessing the value a property should have been given at a particular date in the past, rather than its current value. We act for both claimants and defendants. 

This is a natural extension of our core expertise. The exercise of arriving at a fixed, reasoned, and defensible figure for what a property was worth at a given date — often years after the event — is precisely the kind of analytical and hypothetical valuation work in which we specialise. 

Valuation in nuisance claims 

We have acted as expert witnesses in claims involving the impact of a nuisance on the value of a property. The types of nuisance we have dealt with include: 

• noise 

• escape of sewage 

• overlooking 

• smell 

• water ingress 

• disrepair 

In each case, the central question is the same as in our other work — what is the impact of an event or change on property value? We act for both claimants and defendants. 

Unusual properties 

One of the pleasures of this kind of work is the variety of properties it brings us into contact with. Over the years we have valued — among others — a coal conveyor belt, a former railway station, a cliff lift, a supermarket dark store, and a storage facility operated by robots. 

Each of these presents its own valuation challenges, particularly in finding comparable evidence for properties which by their nature are rarely bought and sold in the open market. This is precisely the kind of analytical and hypothetical valuation work at which we specialise.