Consultant to Wilde Spooner Raleigh Chartered Building Surveyors 10 Hither Acre Ilminster, Somerset TA19 9DA, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1460 259264 Fax: +44 (0) 1460 52180 E-mail: ronaldwilde@fsmail.net

Revised 26 July 2004.

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to help surveyors reduce the risks posed by hidden dry rot in buildings surveyed. This paper discusses some of the problems of reporting on the presence, or risk of, concealed fungal decay (including dry rot) when making a condition survey of a property. It stresses the need for a diagnostic approach to the inspection and gives examples of how the courts have approached cases where it is claimed that the surveyor failed to discover dry rot and/or warn of the hidden risk of undiscovered rot in buildings.