A survey question

[HiAndDri]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

What if the survey wasn't done for the previous owner, but was done for you? In that case would your insurer use it?

Yes, because if the survey was found wanting I would have redress against the surveyor and exempt my insurer from meeting the cost under the clause in my insurance policy that requires me to make all efforts to assist my insurer in recovering loses brought about by 3rd party negligence.
If someone else paid for the survey I have no redress as the surveyor does not owe me a duty of care.

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by HiAndDri

Yes, because if the survey was found wanting I would have redress against the surveyor and exempt my insurer from meeting the cost under the clause in my insurance policy that requires me to make all efforts to assist my insurer in recovering loses brought about by 3rd party negligence.
If someone else paid for the survey I have no redress as the surveyor does not owe me a duty of care.

I doubt you'd have any redress against the surveyor in any case. Every survey and contract I've ever read has lots of language disclaiming the surveyor's liability for undetected issues and consequential damages.

[danstanford]

Sorry in advance for the thread drift.
A real estate agent recently told me she gets a home inspection immediately after getting the listing because a conditional deal won't fly here as the market is so hot. Scary time to be a purchaser!

[cr180]

Originally Posted by WindLove

Well, it wasn't "seller initiated," and they know that. The survey is not the issue at this point - the buyer just wants to know if she can use the same person for the insurance survey.

Just bought a boat that had been recently surveyed. I attempted to get the Surveyor to update the survey in my name. Thought that could be done at a minimal cost. However, Surveyor balked said would need to resurveyed because could not be sure that significant changes hadn’t taken place. So in essence wanted full price to update survey. Thought that was far fetched. Ended up getting another Surveyor.

But, think it would be worth your buyer asking the question and attempting to negotiate reasonable price.

[Cheechako]

There is no problem with a buyer using the same surveyor.

[Auklet]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

I doubt you'd have any redress against the surveyor in any case. Every survey and contract I've ever read has lots of language disclaiming the surveyor's liability for undetected issues and consequential damages.

Pre-purchase surveys might be vulnerable there b/c they are generally non-intrusive. For example, the surveyor taps to find "soft spots" which might be due to water intrusion, etc., rather than core (drill); i.e., no coring at all. The surveyor cannot remove paint from a rusting cast iron keel to inspect on the "say so" of a prospective buyer who commissioned the survey. The owner would have to approve. There would be more cost. Pre-purchase surveys might not be exceedingly thorough because of that limitation. However, if as the owner you commissioned a survey and permitted the surveyor to inspect were ever needed, intrusively if necessary, and be willing to pay the extra cost, then a clause like that might not appear, or at least be toned down with specifics.

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by WindLove

I had someone offer to buy my boat in August and they did not proceed with the purchase. Now someone is wanting to buy my boat and I want to get the surveyor to provide a new survey in this buyer's name for insurance purposes.

How much should I expect to pay for the resurvey? I assume they would want to go back on my boat. Can a surveyor do that or are they prohibited from surveying the boat twice?

1) The person who paid the surveyor owns the survey. It is highly unlikely the surveyor will provide the other buyers survey, even if you offer to pay for it. It is most likely the surveyor will charge for a new survey and re-survey the boat.

2) The buyer, not the seller pays for the survey.

3) A boat can be surveyed as many times as you're willing to hire the surveyor and pay them.

4) Yes an insurance survey is typically cheaper (and less detailed) than a purchase survey.

[bstreep]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

There is no need for two surveys. The insurance company wants to know their financial risk, the buyer wants to know the same. They overlap, and the insurance company will take any recent survey that also includes an estimated FMV.

Not good advice. The surveyor prepared the report for a client (the original buyer). The intended user of that report is the buyer. If someone else uses that report for any other purpose, the accuracy of that report, and any liability, rests entirely on the user. These reports are protected (in the US) by copyright law. Sharing of the report to anyone else (can I have a copy please?) is no different than Napster in the 90s. Just because it happens, doesn't make it right.

The surveyor/appraiser that prepared the report has liability insurance. That coverage does not extend beyond the original user and use in the report. Go ahead and try and take it to court. And no, the person who paid for it does not necessarily own it. The person who ordered it does. Yes, often the same person. But not always.

The answer is, of course the same surveyor could prepare the new report. No, you shouldn't expect a discount. You might get one. But you might not. A huge part of the fee is the liability. Even with liability insurance, a huge part of the fee is the additional liability of putting one's name on the report.

Yes, I'm an appraiser. And surveyors that provide a market value opinion are bound by the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). You can argue this one as much as you like. But this is how it works.

[boatpoker]

We've often had calls asking to purchase a copy of a survey we'd done. The answer is NO. We refer these callers to the person who commissioned us and they can purchase a copy from them. We have no responsibility to any secondary purchaser. We frequently spend hours on the phone talking to clients about the survey and explaining things to them. We will not spend time with secondary purchasers. Sometimes insurance companies will accept these surveys with another name on them, sometimes not.

We often get calls for discounted surveys on boats we surveyed last month (when the deal fell through). No discounts, we have no idea what happened to that boat in the last month. We'll do it again from scratch ... no discounts.

[Tetepare]

Our new to us boat had a sellers survey prior to being listed. I paid the same surveyor to survey it after our offer, this time he had access to areas he couldn’t get to in the first survey. And I was there for the survey. As a result we knew what we were getting.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

Our new to us boat had a sellers survey prior to being listed. I paid the same surveyor to survey it after our offer, this time he had access to areas he couldn’t get to in the first survey. And I was there for the survey. As a result we knew what we were getting.

Smart !