Base on some of the comments I wonder if we are in agreement. Do we provide a service or just collect a fee?
> Base on some of the comments I wonder if we are in agreement. Do we provide a service or just collect a fee?
That's kind of like "do I feed the cat or dog, or cook my steak on the grill and toss the bone out so they can fight over it?"
I'm thinking the later. Then sell the dog to the neighbor or chinese restaurant, hope the cat gets run over in the road, cook another steak....mmmmmmm
Seriously, we don't just survey our clients lines or corners. Think about adjoiners. Pretty key to the equation Mr Newton. Most corners we set have 4 impacted adjoiners, and you are on the hook. Every line we stake has an adjoiner too, even if only one pays you. That would be the fee part of your question.
I'm not sure I understand the question. Don't property lines delineate the property boundary? If you"re referring to the difference between what the client actually owns to vs. where the math puts it, I say that we are delineating our professional expert opinion of what they own to; including resolving junior/senior rights, discrepancies in physical evidence and everything else. That's why we are licensed. (And hopefully we are making money.)
i think in tx it's up to the courts to decide ownership... surveyors are to follow in the footsteps of the original surveyor as best they can in order to determine the deed line on the ground.
Whatever it takes.
I've been accused of surveying the whole countryside and everything in between with the client complaining that only their property was supposed to be surveyed.
I'm not satisfied until I've found enough monuments to put a puzzle together properly.
😉
So, you are surveying 40 acres. As you walk across the 40, you accidently stumble across an old grave. Complete with old stone, with old graving in it. So, you take a RTK shot on it.
Now, do you show it on your plat?
N
Absolutely. This affects what the owner can do with the land. To withhold this information would not be in his best interest.
Of course the courts are the final authority on property. However, we are a part of the process. There are many property issues that go beyond just the location of property boundaries. Not only should we show a professional opinion about the original intent of the deed. We should also be showing unrecorded easements and uses. IE: A drive going through the property and serving an adjoining property. I know surveyors who have been sued for not showing an unrecorded woods road on their survey.
How about a road adjoining or going through the property that has no recorded right of way that is a prescriptive right of way easement. How many times have you seen this where a surveyor pulls a right of way width out of their back pocket? Is this not establishing a property line that is not based on a precedence established by the courts?
Who is looking out for the property owner? He goes to an attorney buys title insurance. The title policy excepts the title issues and many times this is never explained to the property owner. I have seen occasions where this negatively affected his ability to use his land. I believe our charge is to work in our client's best interest and not just throw some math on the ground. The survey we produce should be the best defendable survey and should be to best of our knowledge a document upon which our Clients can rely.
Doesn't the deed describe the property? Isn't the surveyor the expert a homeowner needs to go to to find out where his property line is?
Of course he is. In order to protect property and property rights you need to share your expert opinion with your client. If he wants to turn angles and measure distances, he can get that from a technician or do it himself. If he wants a boundary opinion he needs to call a boundary expert.
Tom
you're right...i'v seen overlaps settled with boundary line agreements and when i see where someone's property is used as an access to other property - even when there may be a road that goes to the other property. in those cases i show that there appears to be a prescriptive easement... a lot of roads around here are prescriptive easements that more than likely began as horse and buggy trails - no recorded roadway easements. what i meant by the courts decide ownership is in tx, a surveyor cannot go to a property owner and tell them that "this is what you own and this is what he owns." we are to interpret the deed to our best ability and mark on the ground the locations that the original surveyor marked. and many times the bearings and distances do not match what the deed has...there is one surveyor that used to work around here and i've never seen his work less than 1 foot off - he lost his license. another one was just never right - he's dead now. i've heard of one guy that if he couldn't find the iron he'd throw his hat on the ground and say "set it there"
