Survey report.

[mikehibb]

This is the way that it happened with our boat.

Boat advertised for a price, we made a lower offer subject to survey.
Vendor accepts the offer subject to survey and requested a deposit on the subject to survey terms.
Note deposit is just to reserve the boat for yourself subject to survey within reasonable time, in our case we arranged survey one week later.

Deposit was returnable if the survey showed major defects, the vendor also offered to rectify all reasonable faults found on survey at their own cost or alternatively renegotiate new price based on price reduction for my cost to rectify the faults.

There were a couple of faults that I had not spotted (that is why I paid for a surveyor) problems wth damage to rudder and corrosion on keel, these were only apparent on lift out, I had instructed my surveyor to attend this any way on my behalf.

Vendor accepted surveyors report and agreed to fix at their cost to my surveyors satisfaction and further inspection

Sounds too good to be true, but that is what happened.

The Vendor was infact a well know and much ridiculed (on this forum) charter company.

I found then to be true to their word all the way through the process, maybe this is because they buy and sell over 100 boats every year and know that that it is easier in the long run to keep a good name, rather than have 100 complaints.

My fender neighbour also has an ex charter boat, from the same company and runs a sailing school.

 

[Anonymous]

[ QUOTE ]
I think I will walk away from this one, problem being the broker has my deposit and I have to prove the defects are more than fair wear and tear. One of the defects is a crack in the base of the mast. To me a cracked mast is not general wear and tear, it is a serious sea worthiness issue.

[/ QUOTE ]I've been in your exact situation and walked.

I would give the broker a full copy of the survey report with permission to give it to the owner. The broker should try to make the deal happen. If the things in the survey are things that you could not reasonably have expected to know -- and were not pointed out to you as vital defects -- then you have every right to back out. You don't need to accept a repair, it is your choice....after all, you had no way of knowing that it was broken until the surveyor found it.

If you like the yacht then ask the surveyor to tell you how best the repairs can be carried out. You don't need to accept a bodge to save costs. If it will cost £x to unstep the mast and do the job properly, allow sufficient to replace fittings etc. and rigging charges, then get a quote and knock that off the price, and revise your offer. The owner knows you must be serious to have paid a surveyor so if he has any sense he will accommodate you as long as he doesn't think that you are playing with him (in which case he might just get angry and refuse to cooperate).

If you've been put off the yacht after seeing the survey report ask yourself (and the surveyor) whether one would expect to find a cleaner survey report for a yacht of that age and price. Could be you won't get any better. Even our five year old yacht had a list as long as your arm. There is no such thing as a clean survey report.

Good luck whatever you do.

 

[Shiver Metimbers]

[ QUOTE ]
Strictly speaking, the boat you have offered to buy is sold "as seen" and I guess a crack in the mast would fit that category.

[/ QUOTE ]

The boat was not or is not advertised as "sold as seen" and the offer I made was subject to survey.

Thanks for you comments though.

 

[Shiver Metimbers]

[ QUOTE ]

YOU employed a surveyor - if his sum contribution of service is a PDF file and then goodbye - then that's not a good service.

[/ QUOTE ]

My surveyor is not the issue here, but for the record the PDF is the provisional report until the hard bound report is prepared and of course the PDF report is required by the insurance company to be kept on their record.

Thank you for your comments.

 

[Refueler]

[ QUOTE ]
Legally unless clearly shown in the advert or sellers OR brokers information stated 'sold as seen' you have every right to ask for a discount for 'major items' that the surveyor has found.
My surveyor found defects in the stainless steel rigging wire which I even with 30 years boating experiance or most other yachtsman would not have found.
Hense I further negotiated and agreed another £400.00 from the previous negotiated finaly agreed price from the original asking price towards a new set of rigging.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mmmmmm - I'm not buyer of the boat - OP is ! I assume your reply is intended towards him - not me ...

 

[David_Jersey]

[ QUOTE ]
I have just received the PDF version of my survey report from the Surveyor. There are quiet a lot of general wear and tare work to be done and a several safety critical and seaworthy issues. What do I do next, get an estimate from a boat yard for cost of repairs and renegotiate my offer. Do I ask the owner to make good the defects? My offer is through a Broker do I let him see the report and see what he suggests?

[/ QUOTE ]

What you do next depends on whether you still want the boat. and what it says in the contract you signed.

"wear and tear" (commensurate with the age and value of the boat and expected - missing one bilge keel may be age related, but not expected nor "wear and tear") is already included in your offer. Also included is anything else obvious or previously advised to you. (I.e you noticed one bilge keel was missing or the Vendor told you before your offer).

Survey is to confirm your assessment / understanding of the boat's condition. So, if you never spotted a bilge keel was missing as the boat was afloat and the Vendor never told you (whether from ignorance or not) then you can break the Contract and abort the purchase reclaiming your deposit as the boat is not what you thought it was / were told / were led to beleive.

Once you have the ability to abort the sale (and reclaim your deposit) you can instead choose to try and re-negotiate. The Vendor can choose not to. What you re-negotiate between the two of you is entirely up to both of you. No "rules" on who pays for or does fixes what.....it's whatever is agreed.

Of course in practice a missing Bilge Keel makes the process easy, it's when the defect(s) are less clear cut that Vendor and Purchasor can disagree on whether the transaction can be aborted / re-negotiated.......signing a contract to buy and then having a Survey is not a process designed for folk to simply change their minds or to "discover" the blatantly obvious. In practice of course the older a boat the easier a survey will throw up things to abort a sale if that is the desired result, for whatever reason.

In your shoes I would speak to your surveyor and explain that you consider X, Y and Z to be material defects and see whether he is happy to back you up in writing on that. Also get his advice on action needed and costs to fix and then also get at least a "ball park" quote from a Boat yard........waive these at the broker (let him have copies of the quotes and ONLY the relevent parts of the Survey report to pass to the Vendor) and tell the broker either "Give me my deposit back the sale is off" or "Does the Vendor want to talk on these figures? - I am thinking a reduction of £xxxx"..........but don't expect the Vendor to pay the full amount, as after all whatever is fixed will now be brand new, rather than 10 / 15 / 20 years old........