information a surveyor should give

[falcon5]

should a surveyor advise you of any prior knowledge of a vessel that had a fault that was not fixed, and your survey did not actually ask them about the problem, as obviously any potential new owner would be unaware of an issue, perhaps lets say sideways keel movement causing the internal hull to slowly break up, but they then surveyed for their new client with the keel touching the ground where obviously the movent would not show up, so they did not inform there new client, is this standard practise? and can they refuse to declair who there PIA is with?
has any one any similair experiences, or know who the PIA companies are

 

[falcon5]

Their PIA appears not to protect you

Thank you for the phone call, it deffinetly appears that a Surveyors PIA is first used to fight any claim ,not settle the problem in my experience, it would aledgedly seem easier to get justice if the surveyor doesn't have PIA

 

[Bergman]

You ask a difficult question.

When you commission a survey the report is your property, the surveyor cannot copy it or part of it to a 3rd party without your permission.

Arguably, the "knowledge" the survey gains of the condition of the boat is included in this restriction.

Which is what appears to have happened in your case.

PIA is there to protect the surveyor, not his client.

If you believe he has been negligent you sue him. If you win the case the insurer pays out on his behalf, Alternative would be survey going bankrupt and you losing not getting any money.

Insurers will almost always fight the case relying on injured party not having money to be able to risk cost of losing and having to find insurers legal costs. This being one of the arguments in favour of the "no risk" claims companies who encourage you to sue for any/everything.

Don.t suppose this helps you much but I really do sympathise, the system just does not work for most people.

Lawyers eh, don't you just love em.

 

[falcon5]

use arbitration as PIA doesnt help the boat buyer

I will publish very shortly the full account, but at present my solicitor is stopping me publising the truth for another 3 weeks, the thing which i would say though is next time i will ask the surveyor to agree to use arbitration in case of a dispute (in writing) before i give him the job,

and i would recommend any potential buyer to get the surveyor to agree to sign a contract confirming things such as no prior knowledge before they engage the surveyor, I have learnt a lot in the last 5 years, unfortunatly only through bitter (and costly) experience.