A non-surveyor's guide to finding your property corners – Case 1. The fence builder.
If you want to build a fence, but are not sure of the exact location of your boundaries, remember what your realtor said when he walked around the property with you showing you the boundaries of the property. Rent a metal detector and look in those locations and you can find your property corners. They are usually marked with metal rods or other metal objects. If you can only find three corners you can figure out where the fourth corner is by the dimensions in your deed. Measure two ways from the corners you found and intersect the tape measurements and now you know where the fourth one should be, even though it was probably removed when they put the sidewalk in. Now you can build your fence with confidence, knowing that you are actually building it within your boundaries. There is no need to spend so much money on a land surveyor to just find your corners because they are already there. Simple, right?
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My favorite expression from adjoining land owners: "I don't know where the corner is, but THAT'S not right."
loving this...awesome!
Hey OP,
I'm new to the site.
Do you have any advice for home dentistry? See, I need a root canal and I'm strapped for cash. I have a Dremel and some small bits made for wood. Do I need metal bits or will the wood bits work? And at what point do I administer my own anesthesia? Halfway through?
Kidding aside, I've seen too many cases of home surveying. I have no sympathy for clients who find out their fence is over the line because they were forced to get an accurate survey after the fact. Although some people intentionally fence in others' ground, mostly they do so out of ignorance and/or unwillingness to pay a professional.
I knew this was a "bait" post and, yes, it's somewhat funny. What's not funny is that I'm not getting paid and the general public doesn't take this profession seriously.
My favorite expression from adjoining land owners: "I don't know where the corner is, but THAT'S not right."
Liability, is many times not pondered. Such a consideration is, unfortunately, made after something goes terribly wrong. Insurance companies would go out of business if they issued policies for stupidity. "No, your honor, I did not get my property surveyed before I built the fence." "How do you plea then, stupid or not stupid?"
"Before you erect a fence or other structure on your land, make sure that it is indeed your land. If you innocently but mistakenly erect a fence on your neighbor's property, you may be liable fortrespassing on your neighbor's land. She could ask the court for an injunction to make you tear down the fence, as well as a money payment for any damage you may have caused to her land. The same applies in reverse: If your neighbor starts building on a parcel you feel is rightfully your land,notify her immediately. If you allow the construction to continue and wait too long to complain,you may be giving up your right to that strip of land. After many years of uncontested use, courtssometimes grant the party that has used the land a prescriptive easement allowing them to continue doing so. How far over the boundary is enough to complain about? The reasonableness of thecircumstances may dictate whether a court will and will not support you. For example, a judge may not be too sympathetic to your request that a neighbor relocate a building that is an inch over yourproperty line. However, if that building is flush with your windows and blocking your sunlight andair, the court may feel differently." http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/publiced/practi...
Okay, nod your head and say "yes, mister obvious", but there are many cases just like this out there. Hiring a professional surveyor to do surveying should be a natural thing to do. Perhaps you should also represent yourself in court rather than hiring a professional attorney when your fence is over the line?
Scott D. Warner, R.L.S. said:
What is the cost of having a real land surveyor retrace your boundaries compared to the price of building a fence, then removing it, then building it again on your side of the boundary line?
Where I am the fence corners are marked by a GIP Galvanised Iron Pipe usually set a metre or more from the corner on a particular bearing as shown on the survey plan. As most boundaries end up with a fence post over the exact spot the iron markers are never on the corners. This also facilitates re-establishment of the corners if for some reason it is lost in the future. Be careful and consult the surveyors plan first. could save you some money later.
Karl bit the bait....please tell us the many reasons why this isn't as simple as it seems...
Of course this is a foolish mistake to try this. The cost of making a mistake versus the money spent to be sure by having a Land Surveyor do it has no comparison. Get a Land Surveyor.
sounds simple enough to me...
hah...this is gonna be a good series