Terms of Service

In these terms, "we", "us" and "our" mean Valsure Limited, and "you" and “your” means the client named in the engagement letter. If the client is 2 or more people, these terms bind each of them jointly and separately.

The engagement letter and these terms together form the agreement between us for the work described in the letter. If they conflict, the letter takes priority.

You accept these terms when you sign or return the engagement letter, confirm your acceptance by email, or ask us to go ahead with the work, or otherwise pay our invoice (whichever is earlier).

In these terms:

• (a) amounts are in New Zealand dollars and exclude GST, unless we say otherwise;
• (b) a working day is any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday in the region where the property is located;
• (c) "in writing" includes email; and
• (d) examples, often after "including" or "such as", are not a complete list.

We will provide the valuation services described in the engagement letter with reasonable skill and care.

Each valuation is carried out by, or under the supervision of, a valuer registered under the Valuers Act 1948, and the report is signed by the responsible registered valuer. We comply with the New Zealand Institute of Valuers Code of Ethics.

A valuation is an opinion of value at the valuation date. It is not a guarantee of a sale price, rental or insurance outcome. Values can change significantly and unexpectedly after the valuation date, and we are not responsible for loss caused by changes in value or market conditions after that date.

We are valuers, not building surveyors, engineers or contamination specialists. The report is not a structural, weathertightness or contamination survey, and we do not give legal, tax or financial advice. If the inspection raises a concern of that kind, we may recommend you get specialist advice.

Where we have not measured floor areas ourselves, we will say so in the report.

If we use floor areas provided by you or by a third party, we do so in good faith and on the basis that they have been calculated in accordance with the Property Council New Zealand and Property Institute of New Zealand Guide for the Measurement of Rentable Areas. If you need certainty about areas, we recommend you engage a registered surveyor or other suitably qualified person to carry out an area survey.

If the areas we have relied on turn out to differ materially from the correct areas, we may review our valuation, and we are not responsible for any loss caused by the difference.

We do not certify boundaries or the position of improvements on the land. Unless the report says otherwise, we have not sighted a current survey and we assume there are no encroachments. If you need certainty about boundaries or encroachments, get advice from a registered surveyor.

You must give us complete and accurate information about the property and anything that may affect its value, and tell us promptly if anything changes before we deliver the report. We accept no responsibility for the valuation where relevant information has been withheld from us.

You must arrange safe access to the property for inspection and tell us about any hazards before we arrive.

We may rely on information from you and from third parties, including council records, title records and sales data, without independently verifying it. We are not responsible for errors in that information. If information we have relied on turns out to be materially wrong, we may need to review our conclusions.

Our fee, and how disbursements are treated, are set out in the engagement letter. GST is added to our fee and any disbursements.

Unless otherwise stated, all disbursements, including travel and other reasonable expenses, incurred by us in providing our services shall be fully recoverable from you, along with a reasonable fee for administration of the disbursements.

Our fee is not contingent on the value we report, on any conclusion or recommendation in the report, or on the outcome of anything the report is used for.

A quoted fee is valid for 20 working days from the date of the engagement letter, unless the letter says otherwise.

If the scope of the work changes, or the work takes materially longer for reasons we could not reasonably have foreseen (including incomplete or poor quality information), we may charge for the extra work. We will tell you before we incur significant extra cost and will not incur any additional charges without written approval from you.

The engagement letter says when payment is due. If it does not, we may invoice you when we are ready to deliver the report, and payment is due within 7 days of the invoice date.

We may require payment of some or all of the fee in advance before starting work or providing our report.

If an amount is overdue, we may charge interest at 2% per month (or part month) on the overdue amount, and we may suspend work and withhold any report until your account is paid.

You must pay the reasonable costs we incur in recovering overdue amounts, including debt collection agency fees and legal costs.

If you think an invoice is wrong, tell us within 7 days of receiving it and pay the part that is not in dispute.

The report is prepared for your private and confidential use, and only for the purpose stated in the engagement letter. No one else may rely on it unless the report names them as a party entitled to rely on it. We accept no responsibility to anyone else, and any reliance by anyone else is at their own risk.

You must not tell any other person that they may rely on the report, and you must not allow anyone to be given that impression on your behalf.

If another person wants to rely on the report, they must ask us in writing. We may agree or decline. If we agree, we may set conditions, including a fee and a separate written reliance agreement. Until we agree in writing, no other person may rely on the report.

You must not publish or reproduce the report, or any part or summary of it, or refer to it in any public document, without our prior written approval of the form and context.

Where the engagement letter states the purpose as mortgage security, the report is for first mortgage security purposes only and is addressed to the named lender only. We will not readdress a mortgage security valuation more than 90 days after the valuation date.

Copyright in the report and in our working papers stays with us. You may use the report for its stated purpose.

Any conflict of interest, and any business relationship, membership or affiliation we have that has a material connection with the work, that we know about when we send the engagement letter, is recorded in that letter. By accepting the engagement you consent to us acting.

If either of us becomes aware of an actual or potential conflict of interest after the engagement is confirmed, that party must tell the other in writing as soon as reasonably practicable, and we will try to resolve it together.

We will also tell you in writing if, after the engagement is confirmed, we become aware of any business relationship, membership or affiliation of ours that has a material connection with the work.

We may end the engagement if we become aware of a conflict of interest that we consider prevents us from acting. If that happens, we will only charge for work properly done to that point and will refund any prepaid fee for work not done.

You may cancel the engagement at any time in writing. If you cancel after confirming it, we may charge for the work done to that point on a time basis, plus disbursements already incurred.

We may end the engagement by written notice if a conflict of interest arises, if you change your instructions in a way that substantially changes the work, if your account is overdue, if you do not provide the information or access we need, or if something beyond our reasonable control prevents us from completing the work. We will only charge for work properly done to that point.

We will keep your information, and the report, confidential. We will not disclose them to anyone else without your consent, except where disclosure is needed to carry out the work, is required by law, or is required by our professional obligations (including any Valuers Registration Board or New Zealand Institute of Valuers audit, review or disciplinary process) or by our insurers or professional advisers.

We collect and hold personal information to carry out the work and run our business. Under the Privacy Act 2020, you may ask to see and correct the personal information we hold about you. We may store information with reputable third party providers, including providers outside New Zealand.

We keep records of each valuation for our professional and insurance requirements. We may also retain and use property and market information from the engagement (such as sales and property data) in our valuation records for future work, provided we keep your confidential information confidential.

Our total liability to you in connection with the engagement, in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, and including interest and costs, is limited to the lower of:

• (a) 5 times our fee for the engagement (excluding GST and disbursements); and
• (b) $100,000.

In any event, we are liable only for the share of any loss that is fairly attributable to us, taking into account the responsibility of you and any other person for the loss.

Neither of us is liable to the other for loss of profits or revenue, or for any indirect or consequential loss, however caused.

Any claim relating to the engagement must be brought against Valsure Limited only. You agree not to bring a claim against any of our directors, employees or contractors personally.

We hold professional indemnity insurance.

If you are acquiring our services for personal, domestic or household purposes, nothing in this agreement limits your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 or the Fair Trading Act 1986, and the limits above apply only to the extent the law allows.

If you are acquiring our services in trade, you and we agree that:

• (a) we are both in trade, and the services are supplied and acquired in trade;
• (b) the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 does not apply;
• (c) sections 9, 12A, 13 and 14(1) of the Fair Trading Act 1986 do not apply to any conduct or representation by us, or by anyone acting for us, in connection with this agreement, the work or the report, whether before or after you accept this engagement; and
• (d) it is fair and reasonable that you and we are bound by this clause.

This agreement is the entire agreement between us about the work, and replaces any earlier discussion or correspondence about it. Any change must be agreed in writing.

Notices under this agreement must be in writing and may be given by email to the addresses in the engagement letter, or any replacement email address notified.

If any part of this agreement is unenforceable, the rest still applies with modifications to retain the meaning and effect as much as possible.

If a dispute arises, we will each try in good faith to resolve it directly for at least 10 working days before taking any formal step.

The parts of this agreement that are intended to continue after the work ends, including those about payment, use of the report, confidentiality and liability, continue to apply.

This agreement is governed by New Zealand law, and the New Zealand courts and tribunals have jurisdiction.