ᐅ Architect commissions a surveyor without the homeowner’s consent.
Created on: 25 Sep 2024 16:23
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Silvia T.
Hello, 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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Gerddieter26 Sep 2024 00:42Just listen to the comparison first. After that, you can still make your decision.
Gerddieter
Gerddieter
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Silvia T.26 Sep 2024 00:53The above post is addressed to nordanney;)
Silvia T. schrieb:
And with the reminder, I realized he wanted to rip me off. No, you must have misunderstood each other, and you should have acted urgently by now!
Silvia T. schrieb:
It would simply be nice to get some solid advice or at least answers to my questions, instead of many more questions that don’t help. Good advice often requires answering follow-up questions. You won’t get answers that just say, “You’re right, use trick 17, and the nightmare will be over.” Unfortunately, that’s not how it works.
Silvia T. schrieb:
The previous post was meant for nordanney 😉 They are not responsible for the situation and are trying their best to help you here!
Silvia T. schrieb:
I chose the most reputable law firm in the area because I can’t read people’s minds. How am I supposed to know if the lawyer is the right one? [ / ] P.S. You don’t switch horses in midstream! And if a lawyer turns out to be a showman, then I have to feed him! The worst of the star lawyers are easy to spot (by the biggest listings in the business directory). But even a really good lawyer can’t perform miracles, and many mistakes would have needed to be fixed in your case. This is a “win-lose” situation, and if I were a senior partner, I wouldn’t have assigned even my strongest lawyer to it.
Do your homework (see follow-up questions / hints) so your lawyer doesn’t enter the battle poorly prepared, and/or be open to a settlement. If you get anywhere between 5,000 and 7,000 EUR (plus legal costs) out of this, I’d say you’ve been very lucky.
You need to separate your grief about a violated sense of justice from the matter itself, or it will become much, much more expensive (full approval of your opponent’s claim, plus a judge annoyed more by your stubbornness than the architect’s behavior, plus a prestigious law firm surcharge, which I must sadly say could have been avoided as a costly lesson).
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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Schorsch_baut26 Sep 2024 07:57We had the surveyor here four weeks ago. We had scheduled the appointment for that day, so I was aware of it. The boundary survey took less than 15 minutes. However, the surveyor did ring our doorbell before starting work to announce himself. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have noticed at all. So my question is why the surveying company didn’t check in with the property owner at the onsite appointment.
Silvia T. schrieb:
The survey protocol doesn’t say much; it can easily be manipulated... I wanted to know if the surveyor is required to contact me. Clear answer: No, he does not have to. He doesn’t need you for his job. It’s quite common that the surveyor simply does his work without disturbing the client/homeowner.
Silvia T. schrieb:
And I say “supposedly” because I live in the house and didn’t see anyone there. Ten minutes in the bathroom might already be enough. Or you were briefly out shopping or somewhere else.
Silvia T. schrieb:
The architect’s contract was presented to me but not signed by me. The lawyer still insists that I have to pay the architect ;( What kind of lawyer...
Silvia T. schrieb:
I never signed a contract with the architect; still, I ended up in court over the surveyor’s invoice because I refused to pay and referred to the architect who acted hastily. Yes, ending up in court is your own responsibility. Anyone who just sets invoices aside assuming it’s a mistake will be reminded to pay and/or sued. But you know that now (unfortunately).
Silvia T. schrieb:
I have to provide him with the arguments, otherwise he wants to settle. The lawyer does not settle. You do. He only prepares everything, but the decision is still yours.
Silvia T. schrieb:
P.S. You don’t change horses midstream! And if a lawyer turns out to be a showman, then I have to feed him! Silvia T. schrieb:
By the way, my lawyer has contributed nothing to the matter so far, No. Have you heard the saying about beating a dead horse? You are riding that dead horse right now and yet say not to change the lawyer. In fact, you don’t have a lawyer and are defending yourself. Now I will be blunt and say: you don’t change because you are not legally represented yet.
Silvia T. schrieb:
By the way: criticizing me doesn’t help me! And it is unfair! We are not criticizing you for the current situation. We are just pointing out some mistakes you made. Mistakes you have to own and learn from.
But I still maintain: if you are not legally represented, find a lawyer.
Silvia T. schrieb:
And if a lawyer turns out to be a showman, then I have to feed him! No, because you are a complete layperson and he is the trained professional. You wouldn’t build a house and try to lay bricks yourself, or repair your car in the workshop if the “pros” don’t deliver, right?
Addendum: Just send the lawyer a straightforward settlement offer of €3 million (about $3.2 million) with a 5 business day deadline to accept it. Let’s see what happens.
From experience, I can tell you that such “proposals” under pressure often work wonders. I am currently involved in the insolvency of a project company building a large property. Starting from the customer’s offer of €15 million (about $16 million)—the customer wants to buy the insolvent project company and replace us—we increased it to €30.7 million (about $32.8 million) with a 14-day deadline to proceed to the notary. The appointment is tomorrow—the buyer still makes a decent profit, and we come out without a loss.
From experience, I can tell you that such “proposals” under pressure often work wonders. I am currently involved in the insolvency of a project company building a large property. Starting from the customer’s offer of €15 million (about $16 million)—the customer wants to buy the insolvent project company and replace us—we increased it to €30.7 million (about $32.8 million) with a 14-day deadline to proceed to the notary. The appointment is tomorrow—the buyer still makes a decent profit, and we come out without a loss.
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