Summary

The claimant sought damages amounting to the difference between the £16.9 million contract sale price from a failed house sale and the sum ultimately obtained for the property of £10.1 million, less that £2.5 million forfeited deposit. After finding the expert evidence compromised by the information provided to the experts, the judge set out a better approach to expert evidence in property valuation.

Learning points

Learning points for instructing parties

• Carefully consider the approach to providing documents to experts to avoid the risk of compromising the value of their expert evidence.

Learning points for property valuation experts

• If you have been provided with the contract price and the sale price for the property in question, you should endeavour not to allow that information to influence your valuation.

• Immediately notify your opposing expert if you realise that both of you have wrongly stated details about comparable properties.

Learning points for all experts

• Judges often favour experts who they perceive as making appropriate concessions.

• Be wary of developing a loyalty to your instructing litigation team which might unconsciously influence your opinion.

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