How accurate is a property line survey?

[charlz]

So what do you really want out of the deal?

a) Things to stay the way they are, just the wooden fence, nothing behind it (on his side)

b) Wooden fence and you don't care what is on his side.

c) You don't really care, just don't want to pay anything.

 

[Tig]

My property was surveyed in 93. The neighbour survey his in 03. The neighbour's surveyor dug up one of my stakes and moved it diagonally 3' giving me 1' more property. Seems that there is room for very basic errors.
On the other hand my neighbour does like to treat my entire yard as his own when it comes to driving cars, delivering building materials, burning garbage, cutting down bushes, finding neatly piled firewood etc. I am getting those things sorted out with a series of discussions, T bar fence posts and bushes. In the mean time he has received a letter from another neighbour's lawyer regarding similar issues. A third neighbour sent him a bill for some damages that he did not own up to. After all that, I now seem like a lesser jerk to my neighbour.
Give your issue time and see where it goes. He may loose interest or be distracted by other "problems". Don't fight him, it will only reinforce the his will to win this "battle".

 

[sunspot]

In my rural area of Alabama, the surveyors just locate the old iron posts at the corners of the property. Do you have theses? If so, take an eyeball from one down the line.



I have an old 4 strand fence on my property and it's falling apart. The new neighbor wants to re-fence for a horse that is wife wants. He said he will put the new one 1 inside his/our property line. I told him "Thank you".
BTW, his estimate came in for 3 sides wire and one side chain link at $15,000.00 on twenty acres. He told me he will fence in less, he ain't got the money.

 

[Tig]

On my survey iron bars are indicated by I/B or IB (I forget exactly) but they are marks on paper and can be found resonably easy.
Someone mentioned moving them. That is a federal crime around here. Don't do that.

 

[Highbeam]

Surveyeors will not remove other surveyors stakes. That is bad mojo and a crime. Same if you pulled the corners that a neighbor paid to have set.

I paid 3000$ to have my corners set and the survey recorded. This stuff is not cheap.

As far as accuracy, it is "garabage in = garbage out" The tools used by surveyors allow extremely good accuracy. 1/16" or so. The surveyors aren't always given exact reference points though. One of my property corners is a "burnt cedar stump" which is also a section corner and this means that the surveyor uses his extremely accurate instrument to measure between a stump and a pinhead. Well let me tell you that the center of that stump is not in the same place it was 100 years ago.

Your question of whether 3" is within the range of accurate survey is not answerable.

 

[mjarrels]

IP = iron pin... usually will be marked IP found or IP set.

mark

 

[RonMar]

IF he takes you to court, I would NOT hire a lawer for this. It is simply not worth paying 10+ times the cost in laywer fees, of a 30 year old fence to defend that fence... Someone said it earlier. for 3", only the lawyers would win.

 

[tractor888]

So what do you really want out of the deal?

a) Things to stay the way they are, just the wooden fence, nothing behind it (on his side)

b) Wooden fence and you don't care what is on his side.

c) You don't really care, just don't want to pay anything.

B, B and B. I do realized nothing I can do on his side whether or not I care of like what's there. I do care a lot about my fence and want to keep it there. I can't prevent all the changes going on in the neighborhood but I don't want anything change on my property.
It's obvious to me now that this guy is out to pick a fight. If I have unlimited fund, I have no problem playing along. Unfortunately, I don't.
I have spoken to local land surveyors and they don't give you a straight answer. They probably already knew the situation and aware of whatever they do will be challenged. They don't give advice. They only do survey. Another word, pay first. You may or may not get the result you like and it comes with a disclaimer. If you pay again, they will look into it further and take more things into consideration. If you want them to be expert witness in court, pay more $$$$$. They will perform the survey to a certain standard and that standard is as clear as mud. Then the lawyers have to weight in and argue the results in favor of whomever paying them. This can go on and on and on..... You see, I'm land rich but cash poor. It doesn't make any sense for me to take out another mortgage to play this game. I might come out a winner, but at the end, the bank will own my property and ...the fence. So, what I'm looking for is a low or no cost method to play this game. If I can just delays it for another 20 years, I don't care what happen after that.

 

[MikePA]

I paid 3000$ to have my corners set and the survey recorded. This stuff is not cheap.

Tractor888 - How long is the property line in question? When I worked for my FIL (a civil engineer) we never charged more than a few hundred dollars for a complete subdivision survey. Less if all we had to do was locate one property line.

 

[TCBoomer]

How about getting a metal detector and trying to find YOUR property stakes, not the new ones?

I had a recent problem with property lines and I bit the bullet...paid $1K(here in the north east) to mark my 4 acres. Money well spent