Assessment task Report

Scenario
Owen is interested in purchasing the building next door to his art gallery in Swansea with a view
to extending his art gallery by removing the party-wall. To determine if this would be possible he
engages the services of both an architect Tim, and a structural engineer - Tom.
Tim and Tom, who are employed by the same building consultancy firm (Renewals Pty. Ltd)
provide a joint report confirming that the building next door would be suitable for Owens
purposes and the work required to remove the wall and extend the gallery would be no more
then $50 000.
At the end of their report, Tim and Tom insert a disclaimer as follows:
This report is based upon information supplied by the local Council and from on site
inspections made by the report writers. This report is for your use and no responsibility is
accepted to any third party for the whole or part of the report.
Owen purchases the building next door but at this point he loses interest and sells both his
gallery and the property for a handsome profit to Always Surprised (known to his friends as
ASS). He passes on the report from Tim and Tom to the new owner who goes ahead with the
works only to find to his dismay that there are problems not foreseen by Tim and Tom with the
removal of the party wall - it becomes apparent that the building next door is in fact not
structurally sound and when a council inspector comes to view the building work the building is
condemned. ASS is ordered to pull it down. He incurs significant costs in completing the
demolition and the value of his properties is substantially reduced.

Required:
a.
b.

On what basis (if any) might ASS recover compensation from Tim and Tom and/or
Renewals Pty Ltd?
Would your answer be different if there was no disclaimer?
Illustrate your answer with relevant case law. Do NOT refer to legislation.
Format for report:
a. Your report should be no longer than 1000 words and should be addressed to ASS in
response to his request to you for advice on the above questions.
b. You may use dot points where appropriate and you are advised to prepare your report
using numbered paragraphs with headings as appropriate.
c. You are encouraged to commence your report by very briefly identifying the critical issues
involved in forming an answer to the questions and then after reflecting upon the relevant
law to provide your advice as a concise conclusion.
d. At the end of your report you should list the references which you have used in forming
your opinion.

Date for submission:

Your report is to be submitted via Turnitin through the MyLO drop box for this unit no later than 18
August 2016.