Brokers misrepresentation

[yelbis]

I have just purchased a 2004 bavaria 32 (and for those anti bav folks out there, its great) One problem. The listing had the boat as having hot and cold water to the heads. the mixer tap was in place and due to the fact i was more interested in the engine ours, elecronics etc. i did not check for the calorifier. the boat was purchased boat no heating exists. The broker has a disclaimer on the spec. sheet stating that in the best of thier knowledge, blah, blah. hhave anyone had similar situations and are the brokers liable for misrepresentation.

 

[SnaxMuppet]

We bought our boat a few months ago and a similar thing happened to us except that the surveyor spotted it and we renegotiated the price.

The way I understand it is that it is up to the purchaser to ensure that the boat is what it is claimed to be... in other words, it is up to the buyer to get a survey and to ensure that the survey matches the representation. Once you have finalised the deal I believe that you have to live with what you you have bought.

I take it you did have a survey? If so, you might be able to get some compensation from the surveyor... ?

I realise that this is not what you want to hear and I hate to give people bad news but that is how I believe it to be and if others think I am mistaken then I would love to hear so.

 

[Norman_E]

Broker's disclaimer may be effective, and would be far too expensive to test in court. Did you give the brokers specification to the surveyor, or was a hot water system incuded in any inventory for the surveyor to check? If so then he should have spotted that there was no calorifier, so you may have a comeback there. The surveyor who looked at my boat in Turkey, looked in every hidden compartment and checked for leaks in the water system, so he would certainly have spotted a missing hot water system. Despite this the real onus was on you to check the inventory, and you may have no recourse unless the broker accepts that it was a blatent error on his part and makes a goodwill payment. Owner misrepresentation to the broker, might give you recourse to him.

 

[alldownwind]

When I've bought boats through brokers they have always been happy, once an offer has been accepted, to leave me on the boat for however long it takes to check right through the inventory, also to do basic checks on plumbing, electrics etc to make sure it all works. I have always tended do this stuff myself as it should be straightforward to check, and reduces the surveyor cost.

 

[DRANNIE]

If you had bought the boat direct of a private seller you would have a right to void the sale or for damages for misrepresentation. This is not a case of caveat emptor with regard to the boats condition.

I would be having strong legal words with the broker. If the particulars itemise something which doesn't work then thats one thing, if it didn't exist thats another entirely. Taking into account your professional/consumer relationship the Unfair Contract Terms Act should offer some protection. You are talking under £5k so its got to be worth a go in the small claims court.