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Boundary survey paid by insurance?
I got a call last week from an engineer doing a septic design for a tract in a covenant controlled community. A very old covenant controlled community circa 1901.
A hand drawn plat with no dimensions or ties to section corners. The subdivision has the lots like enclaves in the parent parcel. Some adjoin others while some are just rectangles in the middle of a field.
The engineer needs to know the boundary to insure his design stays on the lot and the county building inspector is requiring it.
Today I have been emailing back and forth with an insurance carrier. Apparently, all of this work is being covered by the owner’s insurance policy due to the wild land fires we had early on in the summer. The way I understand it is the claim started as smoke damage to a log cabin built in the early 1900’s. The building inspector said hold on here, you have to upgrade the electrical and plumbing now which has led to me doing a boundary for the septic system. The lot is about 2 acres.
This is the first time I will be paid by an insurance carrier to perform a boundary survey because of smoke damage. The fire was over the mountain and you can’t see the burn area from this cabin.
I know there is federal disaster money involved here. I feel the owner is getting a new upgraded cabin on federal money that is only used maybe 2 weeks a year.
They are getting an upgrade while my fire insurance goes up without a claim!
Rant off, back to work to schedule a day long search in the court house for anything that will give me the dimensions to these lots. I’m going to know this community inside and out before you know it.
BTW, I’m the only surveyor who agreed to survey in this area. The agent told me the others declined to do it. It won’t be easy or cheap, just done to the best of my ability and in compliance of my states statutes. I do have a signed agreement backed up with emails setting the precedence of our contract, price and schedule.SD
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7 Replies
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I’ve been contracted with insurance companies in years past. Makes me nervous though and they are very reluctant to issue retainers. These days, I’m extra reluctant to go there and likely never will. Lawyers yes, insurance companies no.
Contract with the owner direct, get the retainer from the owner, and let the owner deal with the insurance company for the reimbursement of your fees. Don’t let their problem become your problem.
$0.02
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Usufruct
From Wiki – “Usufruct is a right of enjoyment, enabling a holder to derive profit or benefit from property that either is titled to another person or which is held in common ownership, as long as the property is not damaged or destroyed.”
I found the term on the Community’s web page. The county assessor valuates only the improvements, not the land. Maybe thats why nobody has surveyed any lots in this “Park”. It’s all community owned. Learned something new today.
SD
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I remember being hired one time by an insurance company. It had to do with who owned a tree that had blown over and landed on the front of a house. They assumed the tree was on the line, hence shared by both owners. The goal was to determine what share of the base of the tree was on each property. The kicker here was that both property owners had their policies with the same insurance company.
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Did an insurance job for Progressive last year. They wanted to know if a 4-wheeler that got hit at an intersection by a car was coming off of State land or Private. Made a pretty map got payed right away, hope they call again.
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I was once hired by an insurance company to reset a monument that was taken out in a car accident.
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I did some field work for the same type of downed tree survey you speak of. My kicker is that it fell near the corner…and all three land owners involved were lawyers! I would say they all understood the importance of boundary law and really appreciated our survey, which can be refreshing.
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I did a boundary survey for a guy who was putting up a line fence and the Agricultural Extension office had a program in which 75% of the fence construction was paid for with federal dollars and that included my fee.
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