Finding property lines

[dmccarty]

Can you find the pins/markers for the line?

Has a survey been done in the past? I would think so and it should be at the court house with the deed. Sometimes the boundry is just words but that could help you if the description says the line is between the two lines of trees. Often there is a plot with the deed as well. I would go to the court house and research your land and HIS. The people at my court house have been very helpful to me in the past.

While at the courthouse go to the GIS/mapping department. Ask if they can show you your land. Our county is rural but we have a GIS department. Not only can I see my land plotted out but also with the boundry lines shown on an arial photo. I can access this from the web which you might be able to do for your county. The photos on the web are pretty decent. They also have photos in the office that contain much more detail. I can buy copies of these photos with the boundries from the county for a few dollars.

Obviously if you can pull out an arial photo supplied by the county with the property boundy going between the two tree lines you have a pretty power argument on who owns what.

This should only take a few hours to do at the court house.

Regarding the retaining wall. I would expect there are set backs they would have to follow. I don't know that I would give them an easement. Easements just seem to have problems. I would look at selling them the land they need if I did not need the land. Course they have to pay for EVERYTHING regarding the sold land, new survey, deed, etc. And the price would not be cheap.

If they are putting in a retaining wall are they changing the flow of water? That can be a no no as well. I would be at the building inspector's office asking questions if you think this will affect you.

If the trees are on his land unless there is a regulation or ordinance he can do with them as he see fit.

Later,
Dan

 

[Lovecruzin]

As far as zoning and restrictions on property lines......we have another problem.....when we bought place 31 years ago it was strictly zoned residential R-3 and partially agriculture so far back.....but in last 6 years or so it has been changed to commerical C-3......the building that they want to build is a big medical complex. 4 stories over 50,000 sq ft.... What zoning law do we go by? We still consider ourselves Residential, and until 6 mo. ago the property next door was a house....but now they are bldg a commerical bldg. Zoning for residential says that they cant build on property line, but commercial says that they can......what rule do you go by?

 

[Lovecruzin]

They are also directing all the water to our side of property. They are putting in rip rap area with all water from parking lot right to our property line and thats where it all dumps.

We called DEP and they sited them for a few things, and made them finally put up black plastic but everything is running back to creek in back. Problem with DEP is that they have supposedly laws and regulations but all fines have been repealed.....

Dr. has tons of money and all the twp. supervisiors and his "buddies"......

Architect asked me "who was stupid enough to plant trees on the line".....
We are like in a no win situation

 

[dmccarty]

The architect is a moron.

You plant trees on the line so everyone knows where the line is located.

If their land is zone commercial then that is the rules to be followed.

Run off issues can be regulated by the state, federal, county, and city/town.

You might be in one of these situations where you have to get a lawyer with all that is going on to get some advice specific to your locale. I am afraid you are going to have to learn the rules for your area to make sure they are followed by the Dr. If you can show that he is really stepping on you and violating building code, water run off rules, etc., the local TV stations LOVE stories along those lines.

But its not going to be fun for you.

If the area is going commercial can you sell out for a small fortune and move on?

Later,
Dan

 

[/pine]

you can rent metal detectors from most rental outlets...

 

[dodge man]

Some areas have storm water detention requirements. This means you can't put more runoff on someone than is already their. This is an issue when you start paving areas that were grass. You will have to read the zoning ordinace to see what the requirment is for setbacks. Somewhere there is an offical zoning map you can look at see what your property and the adjoiners are zoned. It sounds like a residental area that has gone commercial.

As far as GIS maps go, they AREN'T offical. Often times they are just a pretty picture. Sometimes the boundaries are close, sometimes not. The inside joke among surveyors is that GIS means "Get it surveyed". Most GIS systems are used for property assement.

I rarely recomend someone getting a lawyer, but the more I hear about your situation, it might not be a bad idea.

As far as trying to survey it your self, I wouldn't recomend it. As a land surveyor, its not like I'm the only person who can use a tape measure by law, but I'm the only person whose opinion matters when it comes to boundaries. If you weren't having problems, I'd probably say go for it and try to figure your boundaries yourself, but in this case I would advise against it.

 

[Lovecruzin]

We are going to have to go to the court house and get original deed....I know its one of those that says, so many degrees this way, and of marker, etc etc.......but most of those old markers are gone.........so I know we are in for a real hassle..........

You want to hear the really, really, really bad part about all of this.......The Dr. is my "boss" and has been for over 20 years.......I just think he thought he could walk all over me............

 

[J_J]

I have the same situation in regards to property lines. A 40 acre lot was surveyed and marked off using monuments and rods in ground with yellow caps with surveyors number. I have that full survey, as that survey becomes my left marker for my 10 acer side. Now, this 40 acres are subdivided into 4, 10 acre lots. I looked at all the stakes and markers, and was amazed at how crooked that 1000 ft line had become. Now one of the owners has submitted a complaint to the State Attorneys office, and I had to go meet with a mediator to try and hash out the problem. We had a few harsh words, and I had all the surveys, and pictures of monuments and rods with numbers. The other guy just thought he was so right since his new survey was the most recent. I had put up a fence line about 5 years ago based on the survey, and the other guy wanted another 4 ft on my line. The mediator suggested he get another survey since he was the one complaining. I saw them doing the new survey, about 5 months ago, and have not heard about the results. If worse comes to worse, I would probably have let him use those 4 ft until all this could become certified as to the real property lines. I sure thought that all discrepancies were to be noted on all survey.

With this new GPS survey system, just who is correct, the new surveyor with the new system or the old survey that has been certified.

You have to be flexible sometimes, but you don't have to bend over. Pardon me.

 

[J_J]

We are going to have to go to the court house and get original deed....I know its one of those that says, so many degrees this way, and of marker, etc etc.......but most of those old markers are gone.........so I know we are in for a real hassle..........

You want to hear the really, really, really bad part about all of this.......The Dr. is my "boss" and has been for over 20 years.......I just think he thought he could walk all over me............

If he is your boss, that is sad indeed. If he overcomes all this, you will not like him or want to work for him anymore. If you win or keep what is yours , then he will not like you very much after you put him down. He can fire you for various reasons, by documenting trivial things, your attitude, jokes you may tell, performance, etc. If you absolutely need this particular job, then you have to give maybe a little. or a lot, depends on what you want to give, and can tolerant another person that is trying to roll over you. I would be looking for another job. It ain't going get any better.

 

[dodge man]

Lovecruzin, this just gets more interesting all the time. JJ, as far as GPS goes, its just another tool, no better or worse than using a steel tape. It just looks impressive. JJ, I think what you have run into is the debate on what monuments to hold. Say the line is suppose to be straight. Then it gets subdivided and new corners are put on what is suppose to be a straight line, when in fact you can never get them perfect. Fast forward several years and another surveyor comes along and he has to decide what monuments to hold. As a rule I tend to hold all found momuments if possible, but it just depends on how far off they are and each case in unique. Sometimes surveyors get hung up on the numbers. Say a lot is suppose to be 100 feet wide. You find to markers that are 99.99 feet apart, are they the corners or is one corner off 0.01'. Suppose you find markers that are 99.50 feet apart, do you hold the markers? Suppose you find markers that are 95.00 feet apart, at some point the error is to great and you can't use the found marker, at what point that occurs is where the proffesional judgement kicks in.