Need a Survey

EddieWalker · Apr 23, 2004

My parents bought a house with 2 1/2 acres in the mountains. No fences of any kind. My mom wanted a garden and the deer were a real problem, so they decided to fence in their land. No survey was done when they bought the place and the previous owner showed my dad the corners before buying.

When he looked for the corners to build the fence, two were missing. He looked and looked and nothing. He hired a surveyor to mark the corners and lay out the boundries for the fence.

Turns out their rear neighbor had built their back porch and detached garage on my parents land.

Of course, they said they didn't know it wasn't their land, and if the corner stakes hadn't disapeared, somebody might believe that story.

To work it out, they changed the boundries to maintain the 2 1/2 acres they paid for.

The title company ended up paying for the survey and all the paper work, but they wouldn't and couldn't do anything about the encroachment.

Junkman · Apr 24, 2004

My parents had the same problem.... a few inches of their home was on the neighbors land, but it was the home builder that built the house that made the mistake. He was developing the entire street and did his own survey work. Rumor has it that he made the mistake and when he realized it, it was too late, so he just ignored it. It wasn't until they were ready to sell the house that it came to light as to how all the homes on the street were effected. That was 25 years later and nothing was done about it. The sale went through and to this day, the house is in violation of the zoning that has since been established. I don't know what they would do if the house ever burned and had to be rebuilt, but every home on that side of the street is built right on the property line on the left side of the house. The error just kept repeating itself when future measurements were taken. Good thing that everyone got along with their neighbors back then, or it might have been a problem. I think that the error happened when they put the street in between two lots and forgot to adjust for the width of the street.

Currmudgeon · Apr 26, 2004

( The pins that show the true property line being not in their favor compared to where they wished it was tend to mysteriously disappear. )

Now that it's too late, the way to protect survey corners is to set witness markers. Two additional stakes, with measurements, will allow you to recover the location of a missing corner.

A surveyor I used to deal with had the following quotation from Leviticus posted in his front office, "Cursed be he who moves a boundary stone."

Currmudgeon · Apr 26, 2004

( I think that the error happened when they put the street in between two lots and forgot to adjust for the width of the street. )

The world of surveying is rife with errors. The real art of the surveyor is in recreating the errors to get the corners to come out where they were originally surveyed. The original locations generally govern.

It's not uncommon, for example, for the length of a block determined by one surveyor to not equal the sum of the lots as determined by another. I seem to recall reading that a major portion of Baltimore had been surveyed with a worn chain (back when a 66 foot Gunter's chain actually had 100 physical links) and thus all the measurements were longer than recorded. It was so prevalent that the City surveyor's office had special chains (by then they were actually steel tapes) made up with the error built in, so they could recreate the errors more easily.

TC18guy · Apr 26, 2004

The pros always try for at least 4 witnesses. It takes a minimum of 2 witnesses to re-establish a point, a third witness is for checking and a fourth in case any of the other 3 come up missing.

It is illegal to tamper with a survey marker, but it is very difficult to prove who did it.

One thing we encourage our clients to do is "very carefully" dig around the marker without disturbing it and mix a little quickcrete around it. For extra $$$ we can place a 4"x36" long concrete monument for property corners instead of the standard 18" rebar.

BRIGUY · Apr 28, 2004

I got a call from my wife at work today (she had gone home for lunch). The surveyor was there. He said it was going to be at least two or three weeks. Great service /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I'll post soon with the final outcome.

MDNY · Apr 30, 2004

When we built in 2002 we had the survey done for our land 12 1/3 acres before we purchased the land. It cost us about $750 for the survey which was all 4 corners and nothing but woods. Hard part now is I need one side of my property line marked every 100FT so I can put up my posted signs. It seems the new owner next to me decided he would put his posted signs up and I feel as though his signs are on my land, or more clearly my trees. From what I understand a survey price was quoted, considered too high and no one can say if a survey was done. But, getting my surveyor back has been a pain, keeps saying we are on his list, since summer 03 but doesn't come out. Its hard to find a surveyor for such a small job.

Soundguy · May 1, 2004

If you have a copy of your survey.. look to see what the lot corners are marked by.. ( rod and cap.. tab, monument.. etc.. )... and then go find them.... not super hard to do with a few hand tools, and measuring tape or wheel. Use nylon string like fence installers do to check down your line... that or an inexpensive lock level.( maybee even one with a built in laser.. etc ). and shoot corner end marker down to the other end marker... ( if there are no obstructions..
A few minutes spen on your own comensuration could save you some bucks... and answer your questions for you.

Soundguy

MDNY · May 2, 2004

I was considering doing that but my property goes about 1600ft back with about 800ft before the first drop off (slope) and is noting but woods. I feel its more the promise they will put me on the schedule and then never doing it or calling to say, "hey we are just too busy here is another person who can do it" but the attitude seems to be yeah when we get around to it. Going to call them again and say do you know someone who can do it.

BRIGUY · May 2, 2004

I would find another surveyor. Not all are created equal. The only thing i can suggest is to drop them off a retainer $. That's what I did and I know I got bumped up in the que.