Scullion case to open floodgates?

I was listening to Radio 4 discussing the recent Scullion case where a landlord successfully sued a surveyor for their over valuation of the rent and the loss they suffered on their buy-to-let investment.  It was pretty dramatic over valuation where the surveyor put a rental value of £2k a month on a property that eventually only let for half that.

The pertinent point of the case seemed to be previously there was always a duty of care on the mortgage companies valuer in respect of a house buyer who would use the property valuation in making a decision on their purchase.  However, because of the fact that a landlord and a buy-to-let was considered a commercial transaction the same duty did not apply.  The consensus opinion of the lawyers interviewed on Radio 4 was that the Scullion case extended this duty of care to buy-to-let landlords.

This leads me to think that the Scullion case could open the flood gates to a whole range of actions by buy-to-let investors who relied on RICS surveyors in making their investment decision.  A word of caution though.  As a former surveyor; there is a considerable margin of error in valuations, typically 10-15%.  Therefore unless the error was very significant then the landlord could find that the lawyers get rich and they end up with nothing more than a large legal bill.

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