Professional Negligence: Making a claim against your architect

You, or your organisation, may be able to make a claim against your architect for compensation where poor service or advice from them has resulted in you suffering a financial loss.

Like other professionals, architects are providers of specialist services who have a contractual relationship with their clients. As such, under common law they owe their clients a duty of care.

Was the service provided to you substandard?

In order to establish a claim against your architect, the standard of service provided by them must be deemed ‘substandard’. This will be determined as judged by the standards of those professionals with the same skill set and abilities, i.e. their fellow architects.

In the first instance, it may be helpful to check the Standards of Conduct and Practice for architects as laid out by the Architects Registration Board (ARB). This will give guidance on what is expected of them when providing a service to you.

It is important to understand however, that in a legal context, poor service does not always amount to professional negligence.

You will need to clearly demonstrate that the poor advice or service you received resulted in a financial loss in order to pursue a claim against your architect for compensation in the Courts.

Possible reasons to claim against your architect

Financial compensation claims against your architect can occur for a variety of reasons. These could include:

Making unauthorised changes to design plans
Poor budget planning
Inadequate supervision of a building project
Contravention of safety standards

Call us now

Feel free to call us now on 0203 838 0781 if you want advice relating to making a claim for professional negligence.

Alternatively you can submit your claim details for a free assessment via our online enquiry form. We will look at the viability of your case and respond to you with advice by phone, email or text within 48 hours.