Property surveys

Property surveying comes from a need to define boundaries between separated parts of land. Boundaries are closed by property lines. Property lines are usually marked by monuments in the points of their intersections (property corners).

Property surveys consist of determining locations and lengths of

these

boundary lines.

Locating property lines without the assistance of a Surveyor is a bad idea

$50,000 for cutting trees

The

Knoxville News Sentinel reports that the

City of Oak Ridge is suing two men for $50,000 in damages for cutting trees

that did not belong to them after

they located the property lines without the assistance of a surveyor.

City of Oak Ridge is suing two men for $50,000 in damages for cutting trees that did not belong to them after they located the property lines without the assistance of a surveyor.

Iron fence at cost of $2,500 installed over the boundary

The decorative wrought iron fence in front was installed at a cost of $2,500. The previous owner guessed the boundary. The fence on the left-hand side is 1.5 m over.

Surveyor had come out when the neighbor informed the current owner of their belief that the fence was encroaching onto their property.

The fence on the left-hand side is 1.5 m over the boundary

The contract was cancelled after survey

The drawing below shows the occupation lines in green. The bold black lines are the actual property boundary.

The survey revealed that occupation lines (in green) do not follow the boundary of the lot

The buyer of property insisted on survey although mortgage company did not require it. It first sight, everything appeared to be in order with the property. However, the results were so shocking that the seller let the buyer step away from the contract. It harms the bank, real estate agents, and seller, but the buyer is protected. Occupation lines consist of visible improvements, fences, hedges, trees, etc. which suggest claims of ownership.

Occupation lines can be very deceptive in that owners tend to rely on them as a kind of boundary mythology while the true boundary lines may be very different from appearances.

The home on improper land

There were no apparent disputes. The property owner orders a survey, the result of which are shown at the second picture.

1—There were no apparent disputes. The property owner orders a survey,
2—the results of which are shown at the second picture.

Drainage pipe of 1 m diameter under the home

Construction of the residence pictured was just completed. The house was located in a modern new subdivision.

During the survey pipe of 1 m in diameter was identified under the house (blue color). Finally, pipe had to be cut, sealed and moved close to its proper area (green).

The proud future owners were looking forward to closing the contract in just a few days when surveyor was contracted to do a land survey. While performing the survey, they discovered that a 1 m corrugated metal pipe was running straight under the foundation as indicated by the blue shaded area in the graphic. The grading contractor had decided that the design route for drainage was too circuitous and that he could save a fair amount of money on the pipe by following a more direct route straight through the lot. It apparently did not occur to him that an active metal culvert with water flowing underneath the foundation could cause potential structural problems.

Is there a need for a survey somewhere?

People spend thousands of dollars on fences or landscaping features with no clear knowledge of their property limits.

Oftentimes things do not work out well. What is the cost to build this wall (pictured below)? How much to tear it down and build it again? The survey would have been cheaper.

What is the cost to build this wall? How much to tear it down and build it again?

A property survey might be required when

parcel of land changes ownership,
parcel of land is being divided into smaller parcels,
parcel of land becomes deposit for a loan,
parcel of land becomes subject of resurvey (upgrading documents from old ones),
location of buildings within land is demanded.

Should be mentioned here that other kinds of reports (non-geodetic) are common too:

A home condition report. This gives basic information about the condition of the property.
A valuation report. A certificate for a mortgage lender, which tells him whether it would be able to recover the value of the loan if the property had to be sold.
A house-buyer's report. More detailed, and provides information on the condition of the property in a standard format.
A building survey is the most thorough type of survey. It can look into specific concerns and, for example, the potential to alter or adapt the property.

Property surveyor is a specialized branch of the surveying profession.

Property surveyor needs to have surveying skills.
Property surveyors may face dire consequences of their mistakes.
Because he is responsible for factual state of lands, which are highly priced (cities).
Property surveyor needs to have knowledge of local legal principles.
Property surveyor must be licensed.

Property descriptions

Property description is a necessary part of the legal document that transfers ownership to a new owner. The description defines in undisputable form

the land,
its size, shape and
location.

The land document might be described either by

Metes and Bounds method or
coordinates.

Metes and Bounds method

Mete: to measure; bounds: boundaries.

First, Point of Beginning (POB) for the parcel must be clearly identified, described and shown in the plan. POB should be permanent marker at one of the property's corner and referenced by other permanent monument in the neighborhood.

The measurement starts at POB and continues further.

Examples of a survey plan demonstrating the Metes and Bounds survey system

State Coordinate system

Procedure for a resurvey

Resurvey is a property survey for parcels that have already been surveyed. The purpose is to record current description.

Collecting data

Surveyor must collect all available documents describing land plot and its adjacent parcels.
Finding property corners

It is the surveyor's basic objective to "retrace the footsteps" of the original surveyor, that means to reestablish original position where needed. Even if the boundary is not in complete agreement with documents then.
Traversing the property

The most straight-forward way is to place setup over POB and property corners. Because of obstacles it is usually not possible, and control traverse is run inside the property. From the control traverse, side shots are taken to the property corners.
Preparing new map with all expected and required information.

An accurate, well-drawn, and comprehensive document is of great value to the property owner; it can serve much more than just the single purpose of obtaining a mortgage from a bank.

Traversing the property

1—Parcel with a house is subject of resurvey. POB is known, the other POB is known as well.

2—Setups can not be placed into POB or into property corners (obstacle—fence). New traverse loop will be established.

3—Traverse loop is being measured (distances).

4—Traverse loop is being measured (angles).

5—Traverse loop needs to be determined within local coordinates.

6—Determining traverse loop within local coordinates.

7—Traverse loop still not determined within local coordinates.

8—Traverse loop determined within local coordinates.

9—Additional measurements to improve accuracy.

10—Taking points of interests by distances and angles then.

List of chapters