Marmus, If your case is one of Damp and you had a report carried out by ESURV in which the surveyor visited your property. Obviously it is your opinion he missed damp. I would ask esurv to provide you with a copy of the surveyors site notes. This will give you details of what was in the property and where damp tests where taken. If they refuse then issue them with a "claim form" small claims court. Let me know what they say . The representative of esurv on this site is a marketing man/spokeman - he does not have any experience in a professional negligence position. Furthermore the surveyor who carried out the report has a duty of care to you and also to the lender. You could go direct to the lender and complain. Also complain to the Ombudsman if you want but the small claims court is much more sympathetic to these type of matters.

Hi Stedford, When you had the loan for the mortgage you would have needed a valuation report as a minimum. This is required to process the loan. I assume your mortgage advisor arranged the loan through UK home Buyers who placed it with Kensington. In the circumstances esurv would have carried out the valuation as a minimum. They must retain all documents for a minimum of 7 years and based on statutory duty more. They are required by law to do this and also by their professional indemnity insurers and by the RICS. Write to eserv again and also kensington. Also ask why no records as they are obliged by law. See my earlier note for contacts.

In my opinion when the Surveyor attended the property he may have seen tell tale signs that the property was underpinned or the estate agent told him. Alternatively the previous occupier may have given him information. If you are not happy ask esurv to supply you will a full copy of the site notes that the surveyor completed on the day he carried out the original inspection. You can ask that these are disclosed. If they fail to do so, then go to your lender and the RICS complaints department. If you know the surveyors name you could call him direct. Call up Melanie Draper at esurv, although she is a spokesperson for the Directors she may well help you out.

If anyone is interested or requires any help with survey issues please do not hesitate to contact me. I have worked as a Surveyor and previously as head of complaints against surveyors for one of the largest mortgage lenders in the UK. For your information LSL are the holding company and eserv is part of them. Woolwich is the mortgage brand name for Barclays. They had their own surveyors "Ekins" which they sold to LSL - esurv. All barclays Valuations are carried out by esurv or passed to one of the sub contractors, this depends on your postcode). The previous director (well thats the title he gave himself) at Ekins and now at eserv was Richard "dickie" Deeprose. The girl who looks after Professional Negligence matters is Melanie Draper who is based in their Hinckley call centre. The problem with Ms Draper is the fact she has never worked as a surveyor and is just a spokesperson for the Directors. Although all your valuations and survey reports are for you they are likely to have been commissioned through a lender. I suggest all complainst go to the lender. If anyone has any issues please contact me via this website and I will give free advice. Do not let the likes of Esurv get away with anything.

Hi Folks, I need a bit of advice. I had a debt of about £1700 with my energy company - this was and still is in dispute as the balance is based on estimated gas readings. My issue is that the debt has been passed to MIL Collections who have been harrassing and stressing me out. I have told them that the matter is in dispute. They ohoned me today and I said I will not deal with them, the chap was rather abussive and then said he would take £1000 to settle!!!!! I told the chap he was to go away and hung up. He phoned me back about 2 minutes later and said that I had a **** on my drive and that this would be put in his notes. The **** was on my drive for a couple of days as it was my parents who stored it before selling. How the hell did they know this. They are in Cornwall and I am in Essex. I want to get something sorted out with this debt but do not want to deal with the bunch of xxxxers at MIL. Can anyone give me advice. Cheers