Newbie Buyer

[teaden]

Hi All,
I have a couple of questions regarding the purchase of a yacht. We are currently looking at a yacht (40' Cat) and are about to sign the papers. I have started asking the broker questions about the existing documentation on the yacht and he doesn't seem to know very much. I did a registration search and it seems this yachts registration with the USCG expired Jan 2018 and doesn't seem to be renewed.
1. Should this be something the broker is aware of, because he appears not
to be?
2. Is this going to hold up the sale?
3. I need to get a cancellation of registration in order to re-register under
another flag - will owner be able to get this or will he have to catch up
the outstanding registration period first.
4. Is it the buyers responsibility to find out if there are any liens etc?
5. The broker has twice issued us with purchase papers with information
about the vessel omitted and also no inventory attached. We have sent
back the documents with many follow up emails trying to get this
information - I am beginning to wonder if they are hiding things or if they
are just slack at their jobs? Are we being too pedantic - we see it as we
are looking after our own interests.

I guess what I'm asking mainly is what role exactly does the broker play in making certain that all the required documentation is in place prior to the sale happening. We are looking at buying "as is, where is" and its our first yacht purchase - we are really nervous of surprises because we assumed the broker was covering everything. We understand the implications of this with regards to the vessel condition itself but not with regards to documentation.

We are in South Africa, yacht in USA so the distance is not helping matters. We will be getting a survey done and if that is positive we would like to purchase - we will only purchase if we can get the yacht out of the hurricane zone by June, this makes the ease of registration a hugely important part of the deal.

Any and all advice would be hugely appreciated.
Many thanks