Who owns the survey?

[psneeld]

Yes and third party info suggests they are liable and recoveries have been made.


As far as I know good surveyor's has errors and ommisions insurance.

 

[RickyD]

I paid for my survey, I own it. Of course, if the broker wants a copy, he can ask me. If the sale falls through and the next in line wants a copy, I will be happy to sell him a copy of the survey for 1/2 what I paid for it. It will save him time and money.

I guess that makes me a bit strange. SHRUG

Not strange at all. When my survey discovered to many items that the PO was not willing to compensate me for I passed on the boat. I then sold my survey to the PO for 1/2 what I paid for it. I don't know what happened after that. The boat was a beautiful fixer upper. Just what I wanted only with too much damage and neglect.

 

[OldDan1943]

A survey is supposed to catch the large things. You can follow along with the surveyor and ask lots and lots of questions.

The surveyor is your employee..... ASK ASK ASK

If you are not satisfied with the survey, get a second one.
You are going to have a lot of money tied up in your boat, far more than if you have 2 surveys.

 

[SoWhat]

If breaching contracts (not honoring agreements) is how you roll, more power to you. Not my thing.

Simply pointing out it can be done. But a survey is not a contract no matter what contractual language a surveyor puts in a report. There must be an offer and an acceptance for a contract to exist and you must agree to the terms.

Putting terms and conditions in a report does not turn it into a contract. You own the survey and can do what you want with it.

 

[psneeld]

Simply pointing out it can be done. But a survey is not a contract no matter what contractual language a surveyor puts in a report. There must be an offer and an acceptance for a contract to exist and you must agree to the terms.

Putting terms and conditions in a report does not turn it into a contract. You own the survey and can do what you want with it.

Doesn't that become a pretty difficult argument when he/she shows that you paid him/her for that work...and the work is pretty much self explanatory?


While I agree that I am not sure on all the reading I have done that has been linked in this thread clearly shows a survey is subject to copyright....I would tend to think it isn't.... but terms, agreement and acceptance of payment seems to be a contract where i come from.


Yet it isn't clear that it is work for hire in copyright laws.

 

[OldDan1943]

One can copyright anything they create. All one needs to do is to put a copyright notice on it. How that will standup in court is up for discussion.

I still maintain, you bought the report aka the book. If you wish to let someone else to read it, how can that be prevented?

If you present the work as your own work, that would be illegal and really really dumb.

If you have a history of surveys and want to sell the boat, you can leave them with the boat if you wish, I guess. If you leave books on navigation and cooking and and and, the next owner will appreciate them too.

 

[SoWhat]

...but terms, agreement and acceptance of payment seems to be a contract where i come from.

As long as terms are agreed to ahead of time, then yes, it's a contract. But if a bunch of boilerplate just shows up in a report, then it's not a contract.

 

[psneeld]

Boilerplate works in a lot of circumstances..


But as we all know...nothing seems to be in concrete when it comes to our legal system.

 

[dhays]

As long as terms are agreed to ahead of time, then yes, it's a contract. But if a bunch of boilerplate just shows up in a report, then it's not a contract.

I think I see where you are going and I would agree with you. I honestly can't recall if an agreement was signed with my last surveyor or not. There is no restrictive language in the actual survey itself.

 

[boatpoker]

Simply pointing out it can be done. But a survey is not a contract no matter what contractual language a surveyor puts in a report. There must be an offer and an acceptance for a contract to exist and you must agree to the terms.

Putting terms and conditions in a report does not turn it into a contract. You own the survey and can do what you want with it.

"Acceptance and use of this report for any purpose constitutes agreement to the terms and condition contained herein."

 

[dpmulvey]

I'm not a lawyer nor did I sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night...But I just looked at the 2016 survey of my last boat. It is indeed copyrighted. I never noticed. I gave the 2016 surver to the new owner when he had the boat surveyed by the same person so he could do a comparative analysis. The surveyor had no issue with that.

 

[Action]

I'm not a lawyer nor did I sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night...But I just looked at the 2016 survey of my last boat. It is indeed copyrighted. I never noticed. I gave the 2016 surver to the new owner when he had the boat surveyed by the same person so he could do a comparative analysis. The surveyor had no issue with that.

I have been known to drive faster than the posted speed limit.

Funny thing is I have not been cited for speed in a couple decades.

 

[dhays]

"Acceptance and use of this report for any purpose constitutes agreement to the terms and condition contained herein."

So, if I order a book at a bookstore and then when I recieve it I find it says “This book may not be read by anyone but the purchaser unless it is the second Tuesday of even months during a leap year. Acceptance of reading of this book constitutes agreement to the terms contained herein”

Unless the person who purchases the survey, has agreed to the conditions ahead of time, I can’t see how any language added to the survey when it is written could be binding.

 

[bgillroy]

Boats get surveyed and surveyor determined a value called an FMV. Buyers order and pay for boat surveys and survey is Buyers property. Lenders use that survey to make loans. Highly recommend surveyor carry AMS or SA qualification and Buyer confirms with lender surveyor is acceptable , generally Nams and Sams surveyors are okay with most all lenders. Now Real-estate transactions from appraisal (not a survey) and lending is a different process.

 

[SoWhat]

"Acceptance and use of this report for any purpose constitutes agreement to the terms and condition contained herein."

You probably formed a verbal contract when you requested a survey. "I want a value and condition survey because I want to buy this boat." "OK, that will cost $2000." "Great, when can you do it."

You just created a verbal contract. Surveyor can not unilaterally change or add terms without your agreement. Such additional terms would be unenforceable in court.

"The distance to the moon is 238,900 miles. Copyright 2019 by SoWhat"
Just because I add the words copyright does not mean it's copyrighted.

For an example of a typical survey with minimal legalese see:
https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...a9/1421378646556/150109+McKinna+48+Sample.pdf

In his boilerplate he attempts to avoid all claims for negligence. Highly doubtful that would fly in a court. He is a member of SAMS and ABYC so would probably be held to a very high standard.

 

[BDofMSP]

Simply pointing out it can be done. But a survey is not a contract no matter what contractual language a surveyor puts in a report. There must be an offer and an acceptance for a contract to exist and you must agree to the terms.

Putting terms and conditions in a report does not turn it into a contract. You own the survey and can do what you want with it.

Of course the survey is not a contract. The agreement that you sign PRIOR to conducting the survey is a contract. The same one you would litigate against if the surveyor doesn't uphold his end of that agreement. The same one that you are agreeing to uphold your end of by signing it.

None of the language I posted was in the survey - it was in the agreement.