We were hired to do a survey for a client, their deed was from 1906 and was apart of a larger (5ish acre tract) that had been divided up between family from 1906-2023. There was a 1 acre tract, next to that was another 1 acre tract with a house on it and next to that was a 2.65 acre tract with a mobile home and barn on it. We were asked to survey the 2.65 acre tract. Now the property had not been surveyed since it was created in 1906. The appraisal district showed the seller owned 2.50 acres with the barn and mobile home on it. The deed was very confusing, I could not find any monuments and went off the called for creek and after I surveyed it I only came up with 2.1 acres and the mobile home and barn actually belonged to the neighbor who lived in the house next door, meaning the neighbor didnt actually own the home she had been living in for 25 years, the person who owned the 1 acre lot next to her actually owned her home and that 1 acre lot belongs to no one. (I know this sounds confusing)
I never mentioned any of this to the seller who hired me to do the survey and they bought the property believing they were buying the full 2.65 acres with the mobile home and barn. They later found out that they in fact did not own the property and when they called me I refused to help them so they went to their neighbors and their neighbors hired their own surveying company. Their survey company came back and said the property in questions (with the barn and mobile home) actually did belong to my client and not the neighbor. So the neighbors fired their survey company annd hired me to do the survey. I completed the survey for the neighbors.
Now my original client has hired a lawyer and is suing the neighbors and taking this to court.
Would this be a conflict of interest on my part? Should I have not surveyed the neighbors property? I dont remember much about the Surveying handbook and I dont have it anymore so I cant look it up, but are there any rules about conflict of interest and if so can you tell me which rule it is?
I'm curious how you came to the conclusion that there exists a 1 acre parcel that has no ownership? It seems odd that a surveyor would claim that a parcel of land in the United States has no owner.
I'm thinking that conflict of interest is the very least of your problems here. Nevertheless, it's not a conflict to survey adjoining properties, as long as everyone knows it and the costs are shared appropriately.
It is all but impossible for 25 years of occupation to end with a neighbor owning your house. An ambiguous deed and 120 year old creek location will almost certainly yield to the actions of the owners. Hopefully the chance to conform the record to a reasonable location agreed by the owners has not passed.
In this case everyone should stop surveying and start helping to solve the problem. If that's not your thing send them to someone with the right expertise.
... I never mentioned any of this to the seller who hired me to do the survey and they bought the property believing they were buying the full 2.65 acres with the mobile home and barn.
I'm not super experienced with this, but how is a survey performed, structures located and presumably a map created (?); and then the substance of the survey - such as where buildings are in relation to the boundaries / setbacks, easements/encumbrances shown or described, any 'possible' encroachments revealed and, in my view, differences in metes to the found/set monuments - not be disclosed to the paying client? Not accusing anyone, I just can't think of a reason that would be the case unless the surveying company didn't feel they could adequately defend their findings. Just wondering if this is at all common and in what scenario.
@wendell this smells like an absolute fishing expedition- pretty much the same post was posted at about the same time (except from the buyer's POV) on reddit, see here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Surveying/comments/1h850m8/conflict_of_interest/?captcha=1