Sale fallen through but vendor using our survey

[Deleted User]

This vendor had better stop making repairs to his own property before he owes OP a bunch of recourse. Really!

OP basically trying to profit off the surveyors work?

Happy to be corrected if I have misunderstood.

youth_leader

I like your analogy of dodging a bullet @Mickey666 .  I sold a year ago and have to drive past my previous property on my way to the shops.  I had to sell as I didn't have the money for the roof/windows/damp.   New owner is still just chopping down the lovely mature trees and unbelievably,  burning them green.  None of the structural work seems to have started, although there a pile of poor quality second hand slate tiles in the garden.  

justworriedabit

Sorry OP, no can do

look at it like this. Let's say I was selling our house, someone did a survey, and for better or WORSE the survey found that some pointing needed doing by the gutter and slate had slipped and a small tree was too close to the property and you told us that. We'd think about it and you pull out and we htink again based on what you said, look at the the trhee tiems and we agree with the 2 and we get those fixed, next time a survey is done they pick up nothing.  Your surveyor could have been wrong they have not used their services you did and the vendor, for better or worse acted on all or part of it. There is nothing to say that the next full surveywon't find anyhting new.
HTH

MaryNB

davidmcn said:

Tiglet2 said:

You should have only showed the vendors (or in fact your solicitor, so they could raise enquiries with the vendor's solicitor) certain extracts from the survey.  The survey was yours and you should not have showed them the entire document.  At least you now know that for next time!

It doesn't sound as if they're even relying particularly on the details or waving the survey at other parties, just taking action based on the knowledge that e.g. there is subsidence needing fixed - does the OP expect them to pretend they don't know?

If I was the seller I would consider doing the exact same thing.  I think it's a smart move on the seller's part to try and prevent another sale falling through. Even if the OP had just given them a summary or excerpt they still could have done the same, maybe consulting a builder or their own surveyor for the details.

The OP is at no disadvantage. The report served its purpose. 

NameUnavailable

You shouldn't have shown or given them the full survey, only pointed out the things that were of concern that you wanted to negotiate on. 

Of course the net result would probably be the same, you tell them about some faults and they decide to repair and relist rather than drop the price (I'm guessing that they are going to DIY the repairs in this case, otherwise why not drop the price rather than pay builders, so unless they're competent then it'd be interesting to see what comes up next time a survey is carried out!). 

Albala

macman said:

Does not the copyright reside with the surveyor? The surveyor in effect licences the survey to the OP. 
The surveyor is only liable to the customer who has commissioned the survey, not to anyone else who might lose money as a result of action taken upon reading it.

Copyright does rest with the surveyor, especially if it says so, as ours did. People are far too free with their surveys, showing them to HAs and sellers is daft, IMO, as well as unfair to the surveyor, and possibly an offence. I did once tell a house agent who insisted their client had to see our survey to tell the seller to get and pay for his own, which is what a seller should do if they are denying a fault. More recently, when we bought our current house, we refused to allow our seller to see our survey. In negotiations, we did allow them to see a part of it, but we got the surveyor's permission first.

davidmcn

Albala said:

macman said:

Does not the copyright reside with the surveyor? The surveyor in effect licences the survey to the OP. 
The surveyor is only liable to the customer who has commissioned the survey, not to anyone else who might lose money as a result of action taken upon reading it.

People are far too free with their surveys, showing them to HAs and sellers is daft, IMO, as well as unfair to the surveyor, and possibly an offence.

No, it's not an "offence". The warnings are primarily there to warn third parties that they cannot rely on the survey, I've never heard of action being taken merely because a copy has been passed on (which happens pretty routinely).

Mickey666

Albala said:

macman said:

Does not the copyright reside with the surveyor? The surveyor in effect licences the survey to the OP. 
The surveyor is only liable to the customer who has commissioned the survey, not to anyone else who might lose money as a result of action taken upon reading it.

Copyright does rest with the surveyor, especially if it says so, as ours did. People are far too free with their surveys, showing them to HAs and sellers is daft, IMO, as well as unfair to the surveyor, and possibly an offence. I did once tell a house agent who insisted their client had to see our survey to tell the seller to get and pay for his own, which is what a seller should do if they are denying a fault. More recently, when we bought our current house, we refused to allow our seller to see our survey. In negotiations, we did allow them to see a part of it, but we got the surveyor's permission first.

But what does that actually mean in practice?  ie what LEGAL restrictions does this place on the purchaser?

Firstly, there is the concept of 'fair use', by which extracts of copyrighted material can be copied.

Secondly, how does this prevent the purchaser verbally telling someone about the content?  If I read a copyrighted novel I'm free to discuss it with someone else aren't I?  Professional book and film reviewers do this sort of thing all the time.

Thirdly, what surveyor is ever likely to care what the purchaser does with their report?

As above, I've always understood that the surveyor disclaimers are there to prevent any third party having any claim on them because of any errors in the report, the surveyor is only liable to the purchaser in that respect.

Besides, if it was some sort of 'offence' to disclose a survey report, how could anyone arrange to have any identified faults rectified by a building contractor without such disclosure?

YOU are perfectly free to choose NOT to disclose any details of a survey report if you wish.  Others are just as free to choose to disclose them if they wish.  I don't see the problem here.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

davidmcn said:

Tiglet2 said:

You should have only showed the vendors (or in fact your solicitor, so they could raise enquiries with the vendor's solicitor) certain extracts from the survey.  The survey was yours and you should not have showed them the entire document.  At least you now know that for next time!

It doesn't sound as if they're even relying particularly on the details or waving the survey at other parties, just taking action based on the knowledge that e.g. there is subsidence needing fixed - does the OP expect them to pretend they don't know?

Indeed.  I am also curious to know what recourse the OP believes they might have. An injunction preventing the vendors from fixing their roof within five years?

AdrianC

ScorpiondeRooftrouser said:

I am also curious to know what recourse the OP believes they might have.

I think we can take a guess... They want the survey's cost paid to them by the vendor.