Surveyor mistake - a big one

[sandman2234]

When the Hospital where I work decided to build a second off-site campus... the decision was made to hire 2 independent Survey Firms to do Alta Surveys and Title work. The Alta Survey established title back to the Spanish Land Grant forward.

The process discovered a minor discrepancy over water rights from 150 years ago that was resolved and a minor encroachment issue... also resolved.

Ordering 2 surveys from competing firms was viewed as insurance...

I would think the water rights would have been caught by the Title Insurance Company, rather than the surveyor. The encroachment, definitely surveyors catch. Dual surveyors, good idea if you can keep them from being lazy and duplicating each others work.
David from jax

 

[BruceR]

When the Hospital where I work decided to build a second off-site campus... the decision was made to hire 2 independent Survey Firms to do Alta Surveys and Title work. The Alta Survey established title back to the Spanish Land Grant forward.

The process discovered a minor discrepancy over water rights from 150 years ago that was resolved and a minor encroachment issue... also resolved.

Ordering 2 surveys from competing firms was viewed as insurance...

The surveyors had nothing to do with with establishing title. ALTA stands for American Land Title Association. While a prudent surveyor needs to trace the title to the property so he is aware of what he supposed to be surveying, it is the Title Company involved who is insuring the chain of title and providing that information to the client. A title search would not have uncovered this blunder. It was simple laziness on the part of the surveyor. His crews found two irons and ran a line between them, never checking to see if they were correct.

Bruce

 

[G McCall]

John,

As a Land Surveyor in the State of Texas, I run across boundary "issues" nearly every day. Some are caused by poor Surveying. Not all Surveyors practice by the "book" or check their work when they leave the field as they should.

I'm sure research in your State will reveal law suits and case law to show what is acceptable and reasonable steps to resolve your boundary problem.

My 2 cets....
From what you have stated here, it appears you may benefit from a Replat of the property through the municipality that governs land development in your area. As suggested earlier, there may be a reasonable way to move the new lot line around your improvements and even trade land out between your neighbor so both properties meet zoning. If one lot falls short of minimum square footage per zoning, hopefully a variance will be granted by the ruling municipality.

If you decide to move the lot line and if your land is already platted, then you will need to Replat the land, which will require an exercise by the Surveyor. Keep in mind, that even if you Replat the land you will also have to file new land deeds with the County to coincide with the new lot lines.
The Surveyor and municipality officials can give you direction there.

As for Cost.....The Surveyor made an error and should "absorb" the cost to write the descriptions for new deeds and handle the platting process if required. New deeds and Replatting of the two lots will require cooperation form both you and your neighbor.

 

[LBrown59]

I have a house and guest house on a 5 1/2 acre lot. We, and my next door neighbor both built our houses about 8 years ago. I started first, and had a local survey company stake the 660' common property line between our lots. He and I installed an underground electric conduit and transformer right on the property line to service both of our homes. I then built my guest house about 55 feet away (we have a 50 foot side set back, and 150' from the street). I installed an above ground septic system next to the guest house, which was still about 15-20 feet from the property line. I then build my main house 40' further onto the lot from the guest house.

Now, eight years later, I just received a letter from the surveyor saying they mis-staked the property line. The end of the property line is actually about 200' (!) further into what I thought was my property. This moves the property line right through the septic system, and within several feet of my guest house. What is worse, in my mind, is that much of what I thought was my back yard is someone else's and we have lost a great deal of privacy. Vegitation and a wetland provided some natural privacy along the 'original' property line. Because of the different angle, I would never have sited my homes the way they are since the backyard area where I want to install a pool now faces the neighbors land. The surveyor said in the letter he wants to just apply for a variance to cover his mistake. That seems like a totally unacceptable solution to me. I don't want people in 'my' backyard. The area in question is a triangle about 660' on the base side x 175' or 200', or about 1 to 1.5 acres. If I were to purchase any of this area, it would drop my neighbors lot below 5 acres, which is the zoning minimum.

Anyone know how to move two concrete block homes about 50 feet? Any other ideas?

Whar ya at on this by now?????????

 

[Rock knocker]

How did this all end?

 

[dodge man]

I'm not sure if you noticed, but this thread is over 8 years old. There are a couple of memebers who are still active from this thread that might know the answer.

 

[FTG-05]

Don't hold your breath: the OP hasn't been here in over a month, and at that time, was trying to sell a tractor.

I do wonder if he ever got a lawyer or if he ended up getting royally screwed.

 

[Rock knocker]

I'm not sure if you noticed, but this thread is over 8 years old. There are a couple of memebers who are still active from this thread that might know the answer.

I did notice that. But most time in these threads the OP hasn't been active in several years. The OP here was last active this month (or maybe July ). It would be nice to hear how the saga ended if he recieved a notification or something similar.

 

[two_bit_score]

I did notice that. But most time in these threads the OP hasn't been active in several years. The OP here was last active this month (or maybe July ). It would be nice to hear how the saga ended if he recieved a notification or something similar.

Please, please :mur: it's worse than 'who shot JR' not knowing how this ends!

TBS

 

[Rock knocker]

It was a weird thread, his house was too close to the property line and his septic was on the neighbors lot. So he wanted to buy the neighbors land. But then the neighbor wouldn't have the required five acre minimum, and would need a variance, which he was against.

Seemed like he wanted to shoot himself in the foot