On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 11:15:22 GMT, Ronald Raygun
wrote:

John Laird wrote:

On Fri, 5 Mar 2004 02:06:01 +0000, Richard Faulkner
wrote:

Would you trust a sellers survey??

More to the point, I think the legal situation will be very complex.
Either the vendor will be tied up in knots by way of implied
responsibility(*), or the law will have to find a way of showing the
surveyor acted for the buyer when they clearly had no contract.

"Surveys On Line" have cracked that one. Although they are initially
commissioned by the seller, they *do* have a contract with the buyer,
because they sell them a copy of the report on the cheap, before they
make up their minds whether to bid, on condition that, if they do buy
the property, they pay the full survey fee minus what they paid
already, and also get the benefit of full indemnity.

I see.

(*) Although there is an element of this already in Scottish property law.
I nearly had my buyer chasing me for a plumber's bill to correct a
slightly
dodgy toilet flush (it worked every time if you had the knack).
Apparently
we should have said the toilet flush was not perfect. I rather thought
this was the point of their survey.

No, that's not the point of the survey. If the offer to purchase
contains a condition that "the services shall be in good working
order" and you chose not to reject that condition, they've got
you over a barrel.

More that my solicitor (who charged a small fortune) did not make it clear
it presumably was, as you suggest, in the contract. I know we stated the
burglar alarm had not been used for some time. Having moved around England,
and got used to the fact that you were lucky if the vendors left the light
bulbs in, never mind guaranteeing there was even working electricity, I got
caught out.

I suspect that if, as you seem to imply by using the word "nearly",
you got away with not paying that bill, it is because the buyer
went ahead with getting a plumber in off his own bat without first
notifying you of the defect and giving you the opportunity to fix
it. Either that, or he did point it out and your teaching him the
knack obviated the need for calling anyone in.

I believe he had a plumber friend who adjusted something in 30 seconds.
They obviously decided not to send on a bill.

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