ᐅ Architect commissions a surveyor without the homeowner’s consent.
Created on: 25 Sep 2024 16:23
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Silvia T.S
Silvia T.25 Sep 2024 16:23Hello, can someone tell me if a surveyor is supposed to notify me regarding a planned survey of my house for a proposed extension?
Background:
I wanted to build a larger extension onto my existing house to increase its size. The plans were created by my cousin, who is an architect. However, he was based in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and I live in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Both the financing and the planning were still uncertain when the bank informed me that I would need a local architect to carry out the construction project.
At the end of 2021, I contacted a local architect to ask if he would be willing to take over my cousin’s plans and, if the bank approved the financing, to submit the building permit / planning permission application and manage the construction under those conditions.
Between October 2021 and February 2022, I visited his office about three times, each meeting lasting around 30 minutes. He was not opposed to the idea but said he needed to review my cousin’s plans to see if he could adopt them. During the second meeting, he mentioned he still had the original plans of the existing house since his father had designed it and that he could simply retrieve them from his archives for reference.
The topic of the third meeting was the architectural contract, including which trades would be involved, etc. My clear request was that if financing was approved, no contracts should be awarded without my consent, and that I wanted my legal protection insurance to review the architect’s contract first.
At the same time, I received an offer from a local surveying company that the architect collaborates with, regarding a survey of the house. I ignored this as it was just an offer and I assumed it was non-binding.
About two weeks after this meeting, the bank declined to finance the project, which I immediately informed the architect about by phone, stating that under these circumstances I would have to forego his services and that the construction project was therefore cancelled.
Shortly thereafter, I received an invoice from the architect for €18,000 (around 20,000 USD)! I thought this must be a misunderstanding and did not respond.
Soon after, I also received an invoice from the surveying company for a supposed survey that was allegedly conducted on February 11, 2022. I live in the house and my windows face the area where the survey should have taken place, but nobody showed up.
Summary:
An architect, with whom I only had preliminary discussions (no contract in place) about a planned extension (without bank approval and based on another architect’s plans), commissioned a surveying company without my consent (order and offer dates: February 9/10, 2022; execution date: February 11, 2022).
My question is:
How can I prove that the surveyor was not there and that the surveyor and architect are trying to scam me out of a lot of money? Both invoices are in court, and I need to find a way to show that I had no knowledge the surveyor had been hired. In my opinion, the surveying company should have notified me before carrying out the survey, which did not happen.
Is there any other way to expose their attempted fraud?
I would be very grateful for any suggestions!
P.S. The most frustrating part is that local building regulations wouldn’t have allowed the planned extension anyway. A special application would have been required, and there was no guarantee it would have been approved. Unfortunately, I only found this out later.
Background:
I wanted to build a larger extension onto my existing house to increase its size. The plans were created by my cousin, who is an architect. However, he was based in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and I live in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Both the financing and the planning were still uncertain when the bank informed me that I would need a local architect to carry out the construction project.
At the end of 2021, I contacted a local architect to ask if he would be willing to take over my cousin’s plans and, if the bank approved the financing, to submit the building permit / planning permission application and manage the construction under those conditions.
Between October 2021 and February 2022, I visited his office about three times, each meeting lasting around 30 minutes. He was not opposed to the idea but said he needed to review my cousin’s plans to see if he could adopt them. During the second meeting, he mentioned he still had the original plans of the existing house since his father had designed it and that he could simply retrieve them from his archives for reference.
The topic of the third meeting was the architectural contract, including which trades would be involved, etc. My clear request was that if financing was approved, no contracts should be awarded without my consent, and that I wanted my legal protection insurance to review the architect’s contract first.
At the same time, I received an offer from a local surveying company that the architect collaborates with, regarding a survey of the house. I ignored this as it was just an offer and I assumed it was non-binding.
About two weeks after this meeting, the bank declined to finance the project, which I immediately informed the architect about by phone, stating that under these circumstances I would have to forego his services and that the construction project was therefore cancelled.
Shortly thereafter, I received an invoice from the architect for €18,000 (around 20,000 USD)! I thought this must be a misunderstanding and did not respond.
Soon after, I also received an invoice from the surveying company for a supposed survey that was allegedly conducted on February 11, 2022. I live in the house and my windows face the area where the survey should have taken place, but nobody showed up.
Summary:
An architect, with whom I only had preliminary discussions (no contract in place) about a planned extension (without bank approval and based on another architect’s plans), commissioned a surveying company without my consent (order and offer dates: February 9/10, 2022; execution date: February 11, 2022).
My question is:
How can I prove that the surveyor was not there and that the surveyor and architect are trying to scam me out of a lot of money? Both invoices are in court, and I need to find a way to show that I had no knowledge the surveyor had been hired. In my opinion, the surveying company should have notified me before carrying out the survey, which did not happen.
Is there any other way to expose their attempted fraud?
I would be very grateful for any suggestions!
P.S. The most frustrating part is that local building regulations wouldn’t have allowed the planned extension anyway. A special application would have been required, and there was no guarantee it would have been approved. Unfortunately, I only found this out later.
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nordanney25 Sep 2024 16:41Silvia T. schrieb:
How can I prove that the surveyor was not there and that together with the architect, they just want to charge me a lot of money? How does the surveyor prove that they want to be paid? It should not be your responsibility. And how does the surveyor prove the alleged order was given by you (or the architect that they want to place the order on your behalf)?
Silvia T. schrieb:
Both invoices have been submitted to the court, and I somehow have to prove that I had no knowledge of the surveyor being commissioned. In my opinion, the surveying office should have notified me before carrying out the survey, which did not happen.
Or is there another way to prove attempted fraud? Who is suing whom? Why do you have to prove something? Besides the invoice, there should also be a service provided in order to verify the invoice.
This all seems a bit suspicious to me.
If the extension is not approvable at all, your cousin made an error during design phase 1. Apart from that, I don’t see any reason why an architect from another federal state couldn’t submit a building permit / planning permission application themselves. The professional license is not limited to the federal state where their office and chamber are located.
You mentioned that the architect contract is still under review by your legal expenses insurance, so apparently it hasn’t been signed yet. Without a power of attorney included, the architect cannot represent you as the client towards other specialists.
It isn’t clear to me who received the surveyor’s offer. If it was the architect, then they could have accepted the offer and the surveyor could have considered themselves commissioned (although they would have been obligated to check the power of attorney). If the offer was sent to you and you received it demonstrably, then it would have been expected of you to inform the surveyor of your decision to reject the offer.
I did not understand which court was filed against whom and for what.
Basically, I see your question as a matter for a lawyer. No legal advice can or may be given here.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
You mentioned that the architect contract is still under review by your legal expenses insurance, so apparently it hasn’t been signed yet. Without a power of attorney included, the architect cannot represent you as the client towards other specialists.
It isn’t clear to me who received the surveyor’s offer. If it was the architect, then they could have accepted the offer and the surveyor could have considered themselves commissioned (although they would have been obligated to check the power of attorney). If the offer was sent to you and you received it demonstrably, then it would have been expected of you to inform the surveyor of your decision to reject the offer.
I did not understand which court was filed against whom and for what.
Basically, I see your question as a matter for a lawyer. No legal advice can or may be given here.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
S
Silvia T.25 Sep 2024 17:361.) That is correct: my cousin did not pay attention to the building regulations; the plans should never have been approved! But the local architect should have informed me right from the very first day! It was the bank’s requirement that I hire an architect on site. Unfortunately, I only found out later that the bank employee’s wife was also an architect and he wanted to assign the contract to her;( The system here is completely corrupt! Therefore, I also believe that the architect here and the surveyor are working together against me, and unfortunately, I have to prove my innocence!
2.) I have not signed the contract yet, but my lawyer says the architect can represent me even without a signed contract!
3.) The surveyor’s offer was, of course, sent to the architect, who then forwarded it to me. However, it was never agreed with me that he should be hired! In my view, these are all hypocritical actions — something is being orchestrated to deceive me. You just have to consider who benefits and then find out the truth;) And the advantages are very clear in this case: €18,000 for the architect and another €2,000 for the surveyor! That’s worth a try, isn’t it?
4.) The architect has sent me reminders and ultimately took me to court over the €18,000 invoice (even though I still don’t understand why he should get the money when he hasn’t done anything for me yet; on the contrary: he should have told me immediately that the extension was not possible!) Furthermore, the court called the surveyor as a witness to confirm that he was hired by the architect.... My lawyer is poor, even though I chose the most expensive law firm in the area! And I still have to do all the work myself. The lawyer says I would have to pay the architect about €5,000 despite all these circumstances! I don’t accept that! That’s why I am now fighting this in court. If I could just prove that the surveyor wasn’t even there or made a mistake, I would already be one big step further and maybe I could win.
5.) I am being represented by a lawyer from the best law firm in the area. He charges outrageous and disproportionate fees and is aiming for a settlement! He partially copies my responses verbatim and just forwards the refined version in legal German. It’s an injustice unlike any other! I am not asking for legal advice here; I am asking about the duties or mistakes of the surveyor so that I can prove my innocence! Because: "in front of German judges is like being on the high seas!" Sad, but true! It’s like going up against the mafia.
2.) I have not signed the contract yet, but my lawyer says the architect can represent me even without a signed contract!
3.) The surveyor’s offer was, of course, sent to the architect, who then forwarded it to me. However, it was never agreed with me that he should be hired! In my view, these are all hypocritical actions — something is being orchestrated to deceive me. You just have to consider who benefits and then find out the truth;) And the advantages are very clear in this case: €18,000 for the architect and another €2,000 for the surveyor! That’s worth a try, isn’t it?
4.) The architect has sent me reminders and ultimately took me to court over the €18,000 invoice (even though I still don’t understand why he should get the money when he hasn’t done anything for me yet; on the contrary: he should have told me immediately that the extension was not possible!) Furthermore, the court called the surveyor as a witness to confirm that he was hired by the architect.... My lawyer is poor, even though I chose the most expensive law firm in the area! And I still have to do all the work myself. The lawyer says I would have to pay the architect about €5,000 despite all these circumstances! I don’t accept that! That’s why I am now fighting this in court. If I could just prove that the surveyor wasn’t even there or made a mistake, I would already be one big step further and maybe I could win.
5.) I am being represented by a lawyer from the best law firm in the area. He charges outrageous and disproportionate fees and is aiming for a settlement! He partially copies my responses verbatim and just forwards the refined version in legal German. It’s an injustice unlike any other! I am not asking for legal advice here; I am asking about the duties or mistakes of the surveyor so that I can prove my innocence! Because: "in front of German judges is like being on the high seas!" Sad, but true! It’s like going up against the mafia.
S
Silvia T.25 Sep 2024 17:41Or, to put it another way: shouldn’t a surveyor be familiar with the city’s development plan? Which extensions are allowed and which are not?
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nordanney25 Sep 2024 17:58Silvia T. schrieb:
If only I could prove the surveyor wasn’t even there, One more time: Can the surveyor prove that they were there? There must be a survey report. This is a straightforward "issue."
Otherwise:
Contract, including architect contract: Offer and acceptance
==> has this happened or not?
Was the surveyor legally commissioned by the architect on your behalf?
==> if there is no architect contract, then the commissioning is probably not valid either
From your very emotional description, I feel that some facts are still missing.
Silvia T. schrieb:
Shortly after, I received an invoice from the architect for €18,000! I thought it was a misunderstanding and did not respond at all. Silvia T. schrieb:
I ignored it because I considered it an offer and thought it was non-binding. Silvia T. schrieb:
And that’s why I am now taking legal action. Not responding is always a bad idea. And YOU are not the one taking legal action; the architect is, because you did not address or respond to the points mentioned above and ignored them.
Is there any additional correspondence, emails, etc.?
Silvia T. schrieb:
At the same time, I received an offer from a local surveying firm, Silvia T. schrieb:
The surveyor’s offer, of course, went to the architect, This is what I mean by inconsistencies/missing facts. The description of events is unclear. So first, take a deep breath and describe everything very precisely.
P.S.
Silvia T. schrieb:
My lawyer is bad, even though I chose the most expensive firm in the area! Silvia T. schrieb:
It is the best firm in the area. They charge outrageous and disproportionate fees You don’t need the most expensive lawyer, but the best one. Here again, you are very emotional. If you believe your lawyer is doing a poor job, you should have switched to someone else long ago.