Building Survey Ownership

Aerofox176 · 10 April 2018 at 1:07PM

Hello. My first post on MSE forums. Brief situation is we were in a chain of 4, six weeks in and buyer at the bottom pulled out unethically and collapsed the whole chain. We had just had undertaken a full RICS building survey at £660 on a dream cottage we are now not going to own. I would like some advice please. This cottage was 200 years old plus, and whoever does buy it will undertake a full building survey (which came out saying all excellent for the record). I want to contact the vendor's estate agent and offer to sell our building survey to the new buyer, as the survey will only be a matter of a few weeks old and perfectly useful. I was going to offer it for say £400 to try and recoup at least a bit of our lost £1000 costs in total. Can you transfer ownership of a building survey in this way? Any help appreciated as a very difficult time. Thank you.

dunroving · 10 April 2018 at 1:12PM

Aerofox176 wrote: »

Hello. My first post on MSE forums. Brief situation is we were in a chain of 4, six weeks in and buyer at the bottom pulled out unethically and collapsed the whole chain. We had just had undertaken a full RICS building survey at £660 on a dream cottage we are now not going to own. I would like some advice please. This cottage was 200 years old plus, and whoever does buy it will undertake a full building survey (which came out saying all excellent for the record). I want to contact the vendor's estate agent and offer to sell our building survey to the new buyer, as the survey will only be a matter of a few weeks old and perfectly useful. I was going to offer it for say £400 to try and recoup at least a bit of our lost £1000 costs in total. Can you transfer ownership of a building survey in this way? Any help appreciated as a very difficult time. Thank you.

That clearly won't work because it is way too sensible an idea. The English housing market doesn't work that way.

But yes, hopefully you could do that, but I can imagine the seller not wanting to touch the idea in case he/she is then deemed to be liable in some way if the survey turns out to be incorrect.

eddddy · 10 April 2018 at 1:37PM

You need to check your contract with the surveyor.

It almost certainly says that it is for your use only, and cannot be resold. (So selling it would put you in breach of contract with the surveyor.)

Also... it is not as valuable to other people as it would have been to you.

For example, if the surveyor failed to notice that the roof is falling down, and you bought the property - you have a contract with the surveyor, so you could sue them for negligence.

If somebody else buys the property (using the survey you sell them), they have no contract with the surveyor - so cannot sue the surveyor for negligence.

System · 10 April 2018 at 1:58PM

The surveyor holds the copyright to their survey and they grant you permission to use it, you cannot resell their intellectual property.

lena_halo · 10 April 2018 at 2:01PM

Is there no way you can proceed with the purchase at all? What a horrible situation, I really feel for you

Aerofox176 · 10 April 2018 at 2:03PM

Thanks for that

Aerofox176 · 10 April 2018 at 2:05PM

Thanks, but unlikely. The vendor has kindly given us 10 days grace before she goes back to market, but we're unlikely to get another offer so soon. Best laid plans and all that stuff.

loveka · 10 April 2018 at 6:05PM

The system stinks, it really does.

We have had this happen to us 3 times in 18 months.

We have offered to sell the survey on. There is always a reason that the new vendors don't want/need it. According to the estate agent...

There were 2 surveys done on our house. Again, the estate agent didn't want them passed on.

It is not in any of their interests to reuse surveys, as they don't get any more money! One of the properties we were buying I know they had the same company of surveyors to do an identical survey 6 months later!

I really think it's a racket.

AdrianC · 10 April 2018 at 6:13PM

You would be selling them some sheets of paper with writing on. That writing might or might not be of interest and useful to them.

You would not be selling them the most important bits - comeback against the surveyor in case it's wrong, and a valuation that's actually relevant to their lender.

So anything over a smallish fraction of the price would be excessive.

B'sides, it's of no use whatsoever to you - so why not just do the decent thing and hand it over? Karma is circular...

BTW - you say the buyer at the end of the chain pulled out "unethically". You know this for a fact? Right up until exchange of contracts, they have every right to pull out for whatever reason, however genuine. Nobody does things like that lightly.

Smodlet · 10 April 2018 at 6:32PM

All true but, what with all the caveats at the end of surveys, one does wonder how much "comeback" there ever really is in practice.

Hang in there, OP. Who knows, you might find another buyer quickly. If your EA is of any use (:rotfl: I know, right?) they will be contacting everyone who expressed interest but lost out on buying your house last time. Your vendor might not find another buyer until you have another nibble... Chin up!

AdrianC is quite right; until exchange anyone can pull out at any time; your opinion of their actions is immaterial... And one day, it might be you who has to do that. Will you be "unethical" or in an unavoidable situation?

Seriously, where is the empathy these days? We all know how frustrating the idiotic house buying/selling system is in England and Wales. Until there is a change in the law, we are stuck with it. A little bit of grace, perhaps; it will make you look good to vendors and buyers alike.

AdrianC · 10 April 2018 at 7:05PM

Smodlet wrote: »

We all know how frustrating the idiotic house buying/selling system is in England and Wales. Until there is a change in the law, we are stuck with it.

There always has to be an end to the ability to walk away - a point at which you are contractually obliged to buy.

Who wants that to be the offer point? Not me, because it means that you need to do all your due diligence before finding out that the vendor's in cloud-cuckoo land when it comes to offers.

Who wants to accept the vendor's information at face value, without any opportunity to check it out for yourself? Not me, because we're always saying to new-build buyers "Don't take the vendor's recommended solicitor - they're the only person fighting your side.".

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Building Survey Ownership

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