13 complaints made against surveyors, some of them took thousands of dollars

13 complaints have been made against surveyors with a monetary value of $36,000 in the last 6 months, according to the Consumer Council of Fiji.

Chief Executive Officer Seema Shandil says it has been revealed that certain land surveyors took thousands of dollars from consumers with the promise of conducting land survey and preparing documents for title registrations, however months passed without the work being completed.

She says a common excuse provided by land surveyors is that the documentations are complete but is awaiting approval from relevant authorities such as Department of Town and Country Planning.

Shandil says when consumers enquire with such authorities, they are informed their applications were incomplete from the surveyors side or in some instances, the documentations were approved months ago but the surveyor failed to inform the consumer.

Investigations have also revealed that a consumer ended up paying thousands of dollars to an individual who is not even a registered surveyor.

Shandil says this particular case shows the importance of doing proper due diligence and research before engaging service providers such as surveyors.