Eiger Funding (PCC) Limited v Ridge And Partners LLP [2026] EWHC 609 (TCC) Knowledge Check

This Knowledge Check tests your understanding of the decision of the Technology and Construction Court in Eiger Funding (PCC) Limited v Ridge And Partners LLP [2026] EWHC 609 (TCC). The court had to decide whether an Independent Monitoring Surveyor was negligent in the advice it gave a lender before a development loan, whether the lender relied on that advice, and how the resulting loss should be measured. The judgment matters to anyone advising lenders, monitoring surveyors or their insurers, because it works through duty, breach, conflict of interest, causation and the scope of duty principles in a single lending dispute.

Eiger, a Guernsey protected cell company that lends money for profit, advanced GBP 12.9 million in November 2018 to Signature Living Residential Limited to fund completion of the conversion of 60 Old Hall Street, Liverpool, into roughly 122 flats. The loan repaid the previous funder, Lendy, and was brokered by North Wall Capital LLP. The works were carried out by a related company, Signature Living Contractors Limited. The development stalled, the borrower entered administration on 16 April 2020, and Eiger sued Ridge, who had reported to the lender on 9 November 2018 in a document the judgment calls Report 16. Adrian Williamson KC heard the trial over eight days in January and February 2026.

The judgment applies Gestmin SGPS SA v Credit Suisse (UK) Ltd on factual evidence, and the scope of duty framework in South Australia Asset Management Corporation v York Montague Ltd, Hughes-Holland v BPE Solicitors and Manchester Building Society v Grant Thornton UK LLP, together with Nykredit Mortgage Bank Plc v Edward Erdman Group Ltd (No 2) on when a lender first suffers loss. The court found breaches of duty, accepted the case on reliance and causation, treated the loan as a distressed asset from the day it was made, and awarded Eiger damages of GBP 2.5 million.