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Buyer is pulling out, can I offer the completed survey to the land owner?
Posted by tfdoubleyou on November 11, 2022 at 4:58 pmOn order from a buyer under contract, I completed a 3ac boundary survey and prepared a recordable map. Prior to recordation, the buyer has backed out of the deal for reasons unrelated to the survey. They understand I’m still owed, payment is not at issue.
The boundary and title were challenging and required greater-than-usual research and effort. Extensive roadworks had abandoned adjoining roadways and acquired new ROW’s. I had worked through and resolved all of it and produced a map ready to record for the sale.
I’m the first to say that the best kind of survey is the one I get paid for and never have to sign… yet I hate to see this effort go to waste. I had a lot of contact with the land owner over the course of the survey, can (or should) I reach out to him and offer him a ‘deal’ on this nearly completed survey? I’d be asking for enough to cover the effort of setting one corner and recording the map. Putting it on record would be of value to any future transaction or development.
If he declined, I’d probably still offer to send a non-certified copy of the map. At minimum it could be a source of good info for the next guy.
Thoughts?
aliquot replied 1 year, 4 months ago 12 Members · 19 Replies- 19 Replies
I see no reason why you can’t enter into an agreement to survey this same property for the land owner. While your altruism in giving him a non certified copy is commendable, it might not be the best business decision.
I’ve had a similar situation where the buyer, my client, backed out. They paid me in full, and I provided them a stamped plan, which they told me they won’t bother recording, since they’re out of state, and have no reason to do so.
Weeks later, the landowner’s realtor asked for a copy of the plan, and I told her that she needed to contact my client for permission. I don’t know what happened, but I never heard from the realtor about it.
So, I’d be careful about providing the landowner a copy without permission. As far as contracting with the landowner to provide a survey, I’m sure there’s nothing to prevent that. I’d just make sure that it’s all done in a manner so that it looks like a unique survey, and there’s no confusion as to who paid for what.
It’s your call what you charge, but I’d be leery of doing it for a cut rate. Those are the types of things that usually come back to bite you in that ass
I have a current issue because I was splitting a tract that was to be purchased by the buyer but one part would be a standard residential loan by one lender and the remainder would be covered by a different loan by a different lender. The buyer was already occupying the entire property. Something went wrong. The client has moved to a different state and is not paying the remainder of my invoiced amount.
The seller would only have need of the survey if a new buyer had the same plan as my client.
Lesson learned. I would not feel comfortable if placing a lien on the property.
Different story. Did a survey for a buyer 30 years ago on a residential tract in a small town. Because of what the survey revealed, they did not buy the property but paid me in full for my work. A current project is for the person who did end up buying that property. He has purchased additional adjacent tracts over the years. Now he wants a survey of his entire tract so he can sell part of it off. Get to dig up my own bars.
Yes, you can produce a survey for another party not the original client from the data and work product you have already produced. No, you shouldn’t offer him a deal.
The data and work product is yours to keep, and reuse as you see fit. The client gets a copy and a license to use it in the manner that a typical client might.
But it would be unethical to charge a client full price and then sell copies for some nominal amount. You have to charge subsequent parties full price, or nearly so, or else share the additional fees with the original client. That is a basic ethics question that appears on the PS exam. And it would be a foolish business decision anyway. You have a fair chance to make a profit on this one. Take it.
Now, if the property owner wishes to pay the costs of having the original survey completed and recorded he could then get all the copies he wants from public record for the cost of the xeroxing.
That’s a valuable survey,,,,,,,,,you get paid and you didn’t incur any liability.
But it would be unethical to charge a client full price and then sell copies for some nominal amount. You have to charge subsequent parties full price, or nearly so, or else share the additional fees with the original client. That is a basic ethics question that appears on the PS exam. And it would be a foolish business decision anyway. You have a fair chance to make a profit on this one. Take it.
+1000
The value of a survey doesn’t diminish just because the fieldwork and analysis has already been done. It is every bit as valuable to the landowner who didn’t originally contract for it as it was for the prospective landowner who did.
“…people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.” -Neil PostmanThank you all for the wise advice as always. I’ve decided just to let things be. In the process of completing the survey, I had contact with the Land Owner, he has my info. I’ll let him reach out if he so chooses. I don’t feel right reaching out to try to and make a sale here. My intent was only to make the work I completed available to the next surveyor.. it’s a commercial property, now back on the market, likely to go under contract again soon.
And hopefully you’ll get the chance to sell your hard work in a different form a second time.
If you are in a recording state then the land owner would have access to it anyway.
Charging the landowner for a survey you already got paid for reminds me of the people who mark up bottled water by 1000% after a hurricane. Makes those that will do everything to avoid dealing with a surveyor seem reasonable. We should aim to be more respectable than the attorneys on the billboards.
That’s a valuable survey,,,,,,,,,you get paid and you didn’t incur any liability.
Unless you are in recording state you incur liability as soon as you put a monument in the ground.
A recent client waved me down on Main Street one day many years ago, so I pulled in along side his pickup. He reached in the back of the pickup then turned and placed four rebars in the back of mine. The survey I completed for him was to deed a small acreage to his son. Then they decided that a different location would be better. So, he pulled the ones from the first survey, then told me where to do the next survey.
If you are in a recording state then the land owner would have access to it anyway.
Charging the landowner for a survey you already got paid for reminds me of the people who mark up bottled water by 1000% after a hurricane. Makes those that will do everything to avoid dealing with a surveyor seem reasonable. We should aim to be more respectable than the attorneys on the billboards.
Just to clarify, I had completed the survey and sent a preliminary, non-certified copy to my client for their review. The map included the language required by my state when sending a ‘preliminary’ map; clearly labeled as not for recording or use.
Should my client have had no questions and otherwise told me to move forward, I would have returned to the field to set one needed monument, certified the map, and taken it for recording.
Instead, my client told me to stand down, so I did not set the final monument, nor record the map. I billed a percent complete of our agreed upon fee.
My question here was, could/should I reach out to the land owner, who was not a party to the contract between client and myself, to see if he’d be interested in paying for the final bit of effort required to complete and record the survey.
If you are in a recording state then the land owner would have access to it anyway.
Charging the landowner for a survey you already got paid for reminds me of the people who mark up bottled water by 1000% after a hurricane. Makes those that will do everything to avoid dealing with a surveyor seem reasonable. We should aim to be more respectable than the attorneys on the billboards.
Just to clarify, I had completed the survey and sent a preliminary, non-certified copy to my client for their review. The map included the language required by my state when sending a ‘preliminary’ map; clearly labeled as not for recording or use.
Should my client have had no questions and otherwise told me to move forward, I would have returned to the field to set one needed monument, certified the map, and taken it for recording.
Instead, my client told me to stand down, so I did not set the final monument, nor record the map. I billed a percent complete of our agreed upon fee.
My question here was, could/should I reach out to the land owner, who was not a party to the contract between client and myself, to see if he’d be interested in paying for the final bit of effort required to complete and record the survey.
It puts you in an odd position. I would say the client should either pay for finishing the survey or pay for pulling any monuments in the ground.
Like my post of the potential buyer wanting an ALTA, potential buyers are not the best clients.
You should have no problem getting with the landowner and see what they may want. But you may need to either eat the final cost for finishing, or the cost of pulling corners, whichever is cheaper.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding, but I read it as, he hadn’t set anything, so no need to pull anything.
Also, if it were me, and I’d already set monuments, and was then told to stop, I see no reason to remove anything, unless I don’t want them there, for some reason. But I don’t work in states where a ROS is required, if that’s your concern
- I hope everyone has a great day; I know I will!
Weeks later, the landowner’s realtor asked for a copy of the plan, and I told her that she needed to contact my client for permission.
That is the quickest way to piss off, and get rid of, those pesky “real estate professionals”.
What you do with your survey is a personal business decesion. ????
I always cringe a bit when I hear that we have to “get permission” from someone to conduct business. My client gets the paper map and the service that I provide for them. I own the intellectual property.
It’s a tricky situation, for sure, and I’ve been in it before. I suggested that the new buyer get in contact with the party that paid for the survey and see if they can work out a compensation between them. I never gave anything away for free, so if I do a job twice and certify it to the new buyer, then they are paying too.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding, but I read it as, he hadn’t set anything, so no need to pull anything.
Also, if it were me, and I’d already set monuments, and was then told to stop, I see no reason to remove anything, unless I don’t want them there, for some reason. But I don’t work in states where a ROS is required, if that’s your concern
I thought that at first also. Then re-reading the post I think he set monuments and only had one left. Maybe he recovered all the others and only needs to monument one to finish. The moral of this is to require payment for completion from a potential buyer if that type of job is taken on.
If you are in a recording state then the land owner would have access to it anyway.
Charging the landowner for a survey you already got paid for reminds me of the people who mark up bottled water by 1000% after a hurricane. Makes those that will do everything to avoid dealing with a surveyor seem reasonable. We should aim to be more respectable than the attorneys on the billboards.
Just to clarify, I had completed the survey and sent a preliminary, non-certified copy to my client for their review. The map included the language required by my state when sending a ‘preliminary’ map; clearly labeled as not for recording or use.
Should my client have had no questions and otherwise told me to move forward, I would have returned to the field to set one needed monument, certified the map, and taken it for recording.
Instead, my client told me to stand down, so I did not set the final monument, nor record the map. I billed a percent complete of our agreed upon fee.
My question here was, could/should I reach out to the land owner, who was not a party to the contract between client and myself, to see if he’d be interested in paying for the final bit of effort required to complete and record the survey.
Ahh. I see. That sounds perfectly fine to me.
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