Professional Negligence Claims Against Architects

An architect can be held liable for putting you back in the financial position you would have been in if the negligence had not occurred — this is called full restitution. There is no legal cap on how much you can claim.

You can claim for:

• Direct financial losses – e.g. the cost of rectifying a flawed planning application or fixing work that breaches building regulations.
• Foreseeable consequential losses – e.g. lost profits or reduced property value caused by delays or defective work.
• Interest and legal costs – interest on your losses up to the date of compensation, plus reasonable legal expenses.

However, the law also requires you to mitigate your losses. This means taking reasonable steps to reduce further loss where possible. Even if the loss was foreseeable, you cannot allow it to continue unnecessarily just to increase your claim.

An architect can be held liable for putting you back in the financial position you would have been in if the negligence had not occurred — this is called full restitution. There is no legal cap on how much you can claim.

You can claim for:

• Direct financial losses – e.g. the cost of rectifying a flawed planning application or fixing work that breaches building regulations.
• Foreseeable consequential losses – e.g. lost profits or reduced property value caused by delays or defective work.
• Interest and legal costs – interest on your losses up to the date of compensation, plus reasonable legal expenses.

However, the law also requires you to mitigate your losses. This means taking reasonable steps to reduce further loss where possible. Even if the loss was foreseeable, you cannot allow it to continue unnecessarily just to increase your claim.

To succeed in an architect negligence claim, you need clear evidence that the architect owed you a duty of care, breached that duty, and caused you financial loss.

You must prove three key legal elements:

• Duty of care – Under English law, a paid architect engaged by a client owes a duty to exercise the reasonable skill and care expected of a competent professional in their field.
• Breach – A failure to meet that standard, such as an error or omission in their work.
• Causation – There must be a direct link between the breach and your loss. Architects may argue that even if they made an error, it didn’t cause the loss (for example, faulty drawings that didn’t meet your brief but wouldn’t have changed your decision to proceed).

The burden of proof lies with you, and the standard is the balance of probabilities — it must be more likely than not that negligence occurred and caused your loss.

In many cases, an expert witness (often another experienced architect) is instructed to inspect the construction, review documents, and give an opinion on whether the work fell below the required standard. Such expert reports can be decisive in achieving a settlement. Where the facts are disputed, evidence such as contemporary documents and witness statements is used to establish what happened.

Architect negligence claims are usually settled without going to court, often through alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods like adjudication, mediation, or arbitration. The ARB and RIBA cannot award compensation for mistakes, so there are typically three main routes to seek compensation:

• Use the disputes clause in your contract – Many architect contracts require parties to attempt adjudication, mediation, or arbitration before starting court proceedings.
• Ask RIBA to arrange ADR – If both parties agree, RIBA can organise adjudication, mediation, or arbitration to help resolve the matter.
• Instruct a solicitor – A solicitor can prepare a formal letter of claim and, if needed, start court action. However, solicitors must still consider ADR first.

In our experience, most cases settle during the ADR process and do not reach a courtroom.

Architect negligence claims are usually settled without going to court, often through alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods like adjudication, mediation, or arbitration. The ARB and RIBA cannot award compensation for mistakes, so there are typically three main routes to seek compensation:

• Use the disputes clause in your contract – Many architect contracts require parties to attempt adjudication, mediation, or arbitration before starting court proceedings.
• Ask RIBA to arrange ADR – If both parties agree, RIBA can organise adjudication, mediation, or arbitration to help resolve the matter.
• Instruct a solicitor – A solicitor can prepare a formal letter of claim and, if needed, start court action. However, solicitors must still consider ADR first.

In our experience, most cases settle during the ADR process and do not reach a courtroom.

Architects faced with a negligence or breach of contract claim may accept they owed a duty of care — but still defend themselves by challenging other elements of the claim.

Common defences include:

• No breach of duty – Arguing their work met the standard of a reasonably competent architect in the circumstances.
• External factors – Claiming the loss arose from issues outside their control, such as planning restrictions, changes in building regulations, or the actions of other professionals (e.g., builders, engineers, or surveyors).
• No financial loss caused by their work – Even if their work was substandard, they may argue that the loss came from another source.

These arguments aim to break the legal link between the architect’s actions and the loss claimed.