surveyor's report: restrictions on use: why?

Dilisk

From what I can make out, a surveyor's report (setting out the findings of a
prepurchase survey) is often provided on condition that it not be given to
third parties. Why is this?

Is it because the surveyor wants to minimise the number of people who might
sue him?

Is it because he may lose business if the report happens to be shared among
potential buyers?

Is it because he is concerned about having his work critiqued?

gaius c

Because he is paid to do this work by you and if you share the report with others, they will have received the benefits for free.

Carawaystick

How is this different to me buying any good and giving it away?

Gumbo

Dilisk wrote: »

From what I can make out, a surveyor's report (setting out the findings of a
prepurchase survey) is often provided on condition that it not be given to
third parties. Why is this?

Is it because the surveyor wants to minimise the number of people who might
sue him?

Is it because he may lose business if the report happens to be shared among
potential buyers?

Is it because he is concerned about having his work critiqued?

Copyright maybe?
Its like an Architect doing drawings for me, but then I give them to another guy to put on his site.

Dilisk

Carawaystick wrote: »

How is this different to me buying any good and giving it away?

I expect that copyright law comes into play here. The surveyor
owns the copyright in the report and therefore has the right to
restrict its distribution.

Dilisk

gaius c wrote: »

Because he is paid to do this work by you and if you share the report with others, they will have received the benefits for free.

Yes, I alluded to that possibility in my original post. But when would it
happen in practice? It is surely very rare for potential buyers to share a
surveyor's report.

The only time when a report might be reused in this way would be if the
client sold the property again within a few years, and used the surveyor's
report as part of his marketing.

There are two major scenarios where the client would would want to give the
report to third parties. The first is when he wants to get the vendor to
lower his price, because of defects discovered by the surveyor. The second
is when he wants to give the report to a builder, so the builder can repair
the defects. Therefore, the usefulness of the report is significantly
reduced if one can't give it to third parties.

Carawaystick

Dilisk wrote: »

I expect that copyright law comes into play here. The surveyor
owns the copyright in the report and therefore has the right to
restrict its distribution.

Copyright can only prevent copying a report. I can give the paper it's on to anyone I like