Mortgages

The defendant valuer agreed to provide a valuation of a property but was misled by the borrower into inspecting a different property.

HELD Although there is a presumption that those who provide professional services normally do no more than undertake to exercise the degree of care and skill to be expected of a competent professional in the relevant field, there is nothing to prevent them from assuming an unqualified obligation in relation to particular aspects of their work. It requires special facts or clear language to impose an obligation stricter than that of reasonable care. A professional will not readily be supposed to undertake to achieve a guaranteed result. If he is undertaking with care that which he was retained or instructed to do, he will not readily be found to have nevertheless warranted to be responsible for a misfortune caused by the fraud of another.