Property Line Surveys

Accurate Land Surveys, Inc. has a wide variety of property line resolution experience, from industrial sites to timber sales, subdivision, partitions, county roads and highways, individual boundary sites, etc.

Is it Required to Survey my whole property?

Not all the time. Many times the surveyor solves one property line at a time. It is necessary for the Land surveyor to explain his findings in a narrative on his surveys. At the very least he will have to perform some check distances and angles between found monuments to verify their locations in conjunction with a recorded survey of your property.

Are these markers my actual property corners?

It would not be in the surveyor's best interest to tell you that the monuments found were your actual deeded corners for your property lines. This may place a burden of responsibility on the surveyor as to the accuracy of the monuments found. A prudent surveyor would merely state that he had not verified the accuracy of the property lines and that the monuments that he found represent the property lines as per survey number xxxxxx. Original Surveyor If you already have a survey of your property on record at the County Surveyor's office you may want to contact the original surveyor and pay him to come out and freshen up or replace the property corners they had previously set.

Can I have anybody show me my Property lines?

By law, the only person who is to qualified to delineate a property line is a registered professional licensed land surveyor. You may have a friend who works for a surveyor, who is on a crew or works in a survey office, that tells you he/she can find your corners with out a survey. This is a decision that may come back to trouble you.

Why is it a bad idea to use a non-registered professional?

First, it is illegal for any survey person who is not a registered professional to perform such a service. Why you may ask? There are several issues that need to be examined for a boundary to be properly marked in accordance with your deeded property. There are state statutes and laws set up as guidelines for professionals to protect the interests of the pubic.

What are some issues that may come back to trouble you?

1. Your property may have two or more monuments in close proximity and the wrong monument is marked as your corner.
2. In subdivisions, there are other monuments (markers) set in conjunction with your property corners; such as, curve points, projected centerlines and possible deeded property line adjustments.
3. Adjusted property lines, which have been created by deed, are not shown on the original plat.
4. Physical encroachments across the property lines.
5. Building set-backs weren't observed and a building is now in violation of said set back.

What are my options?

Hire Accurate Land Surveys, Inc. to assist you in meeting your property line survey needs. It is our policy to give an idea as to the time frame, scope and elements that may affect the cost of a boundary survey.

Have the original surveyor, if there is one, come out and find and remark their previously set corners. They will charge a fee for this service and may have to file a new Record of Survey with the governing county.

Why does a survey cost so much?

County Checklist and State Requirements

1. County filing fee from $200 to $345 for simple record of your survey. This is a required fee set by the counties for the review of a survey to see it it is in compliance with a list of requirements as stated in state and/or county guidelines. If your survey is for a future subdivision or partition plat, the fee, in some counties, is the survey filing fee plus a deposit of $500.00 to $1000.00 dollars and will cover the time and materials of the county to review your survey. Why? This type of survey comes under a more intense type of scrutiny. Many counties feel that their review of this survey is to protect the interests of the future buyer and make sure that there are no property line issues that will effect several future land owners.
   
2. Your deed may call out various corners, monument, adjoiners, blocks, lots etc. Setting just one corner is not that easy for the prudent surveyor. Therefore, they must find all monuments that will best locate your property according to your deed. This is why it is so important for the surveyor to be thorough. It is Accurate Land Surveys, Inc.'s policy to take the time to place proper monuments that correctly represent your deed. It is important to take the appropriate time to produce an accurate, professional, well documented, procedurally sound property line survey.

Below are a couple of examples of some issues professional land surveyors face regularly.

Example #1
You have contacted a licensed surveyor and asked him to set your two front corners of a simple lot survey in a recorded plat. Easy enough! The surveyor begins his research and realizes that the plat is 60 years old and cannot find any of the original corners of the subject property. He then looks for other property corners in the subdivision. He finds a few but none of them are original corners set in the original plat He now has to tie the original exterior boundary of the old plat. If those corners are not there he then has to go to the section corners and/or the Donation Land Claim corners to establish the plat location. As you can see, it is not just a matter of the surveyor making a profit. It is about his obligation to you, as his client, to do a comprehensive and appropriate effort to mark the deeded property.

Example #2
You have contacted a licensed surveyor and asked him to set your two corners between you and your neighbor. Easy enough! Upon discovery the surveyor finds enough original corners in the area to establish your deeded property lines and discovers that there is an encroachment on the property line. The neighbor has built a garage 2 feet onto your property. Now the survey moves from a simple survey to making a map for the client disclosing his findings and referring the client to an attorney to get a property line agreement, easement or sale of property for the encroached area drafted up, executed and recorded. Your property is to be unique unto it's own, marking it may be relatively easy or very tedious. Remember - Your real property is an important asset to your financial well being, a good boundary survey is good management of this asset.

Remember -

Your real property is an important asset to your financial well being, a good boundary survey is good management of this asset.