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Whilst I agree that the solicitors should have disclosed the matter to the lender (since the handbook requires it and you seem to have to tell the lender everything), at the end of the day the surveyor is the one who overvalued the property by such a ridiculous amount.

If there is an issue on the valuation I have in practice seen comments in the valuation report that 'there is no comparable data to support the valuation' and wording along those lines and even seen valuers referring to average prices in the area. As such, there is no reason why if the surveyor had done their job properly, especially with the availability of house price data online, they would not have found for themselves that the property sold six months earlier for a lot less or that the valuation was grossly overinflated.

Whilst I agree some 'blame' should fall to the firm for the breach of the CML handbook, the surveyor is the one that messed up so completely and it seems unfair for the blame to be split equally.