§ Mr. Ian BruceTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what representations his Department has received(a) about the amount of award given to plaintiffs who have successfully sued professional advisers who have been negligent in reporting defects in a building that the plaintiff has purchased and (b) about cases where the cost to the plaintiff of repairing the building is very much higher than the award given by the court because the award given by the court reflects what the value of the property would have been if the purchaser had known about the defect but was still willing to purchase but at a lower price; and if he will make proposals to enable courts to award the full reinstatement cost.
Mr. John M. TaylorThere has been correspondence between the Lord Chancellor's Department and my hon. Friend about the principles which apply in these cases. We do not propose to change those principles.