Previous Survey Results??

I would ask if the seller or broker have a recent survey. In many cases the seller/broker may offer it. (If clean boat)
If the boat has issues they may not mention a recent survey at all.
Either way, get your own survey and use your own surveyor.

Of course you ask for that, you ask for any document of the vessel, service log, repairs log etc,
From my experience, no body refused me those, and if the seller refuses he is probably hiding something.
In that case you either reject this deal or be very suspicious and careful and get a very good surveyor !!!

Surveys are the property of those that paid for them and it's customary to ask not to share them for several good reasons. Speaking of generalities of the survey is acceptable; but sharing the printed or electronic copy without paying for it may violate the agreement between the surveyor and the entity who paid for it. It also may become a liability issue as the condition of the vessel may have changed and it's not reflected.
Vessels records of maintainence/repairs/refits/dry docking and other related logs should be able to viewed as long as the buyer is qualified and serious.

Bamboo
If a seller want to sell his vessel he must be willing to show here true condition.
The seller's survey is an old one and doesn't show the true condition of the vessel and therefore null and void
A wise buyer will anyhow order a survey and he'll have an updated one.
In this case the seller's survey is not worth the paper it is written on.

I believe Bamboo is spot on. The person or entity that contracted for and paid for the survey owns it. And without a contractual obligation need not share it with anyone; - maybe not even the boat owner or his reps.

I see this as simpler. It is fine to ask for any surveys and maintenance records. It's completely up to the owner as to whether they choose to provide any or all. If they refuse, you can judge how that makes you feel. Frankly I'd like the old survey just to double check the areas that should have been remedied since then.

Now, one exception. This is rare, but I have seen surveyor agreements that say the survey remains the property of the surveyor and may not be shared with anyone without their written consent. I quote below:

Surveyor shall produce a report (the “Report”) of Surveyor’s findings after the completion of Surveyor’s inspection of the Vessel. Notwithstanding delivery of the Report to Client, the Report shall remain the sole and exclusive property of
Surveyor, and distribution of the Report to anyone other than Client’s insurers and Client’s lenders is strictly prohibited without Surveyor’s express written authorization.
​

Now I never would have signed that agreement with a surveyor. There are other agreements though that restrict redistribution. In this situation the surveyor is protecting themselves against liability to anyone else.

Loose lips sink ships.

Frankly a seller's survey is going to be a handpicked document; what boat seller is going to present a survey to a potential buyer that makes the boat look bad? With that in mind- no matter how impartial it looks - what buyer would have faith any such document?
So Menkes is correct it's not worth the paper it's printed on. The buyer needs to order their own survey from a reputable surveyor; that is the "true" condition of the boat.

Or if the boat is in excellent condition and the survey reflects that, then the seller may also make it freely available.

On the 2007 62' Sunseeker, the prior owner owned it for about 3 years and I managed it the entire time. Aside from the initial purchase survey we never had it re-surveyed and all issues were fixed on the initial survey. When the boat sold again, there were only 1 very minor issue that was found on the entire hull survey, the dishwasher didn't work, which we had already had listed in the listing.