Property Under-Valuation

Mortgage Corporation plc v Lambert & Co (CA TLR 24 April)

The defendant valued a property at £250,000 in April 1990 on the strength of which the claimants lent £176,631. The mortgagor defaulted and in 1996 the property was repossessed and sold for only £100,000. The claimant issued proceedings for damages in October 1996 by which date a contractual claim was clearly time-barred. The defendant contended that the claimant knew, or should have known, more than three years prior to the commencement of proceedings that the property had been over valued whilst the claimant contended that under s14A of the Limitation Act 1980 applied and that the limitation period did not start to run until the property had been sold.