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Can you ethically survey your own property? Can you prepare survey for closing?
I’m in the process of buying a home and one of the surveyors said that I can’t sign my survey. Is this true? I tried to google it but not much..
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71 Replies
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Assuming that you are no longer an LSIT in NJ……I doubt that there is any legal prohibition. But it might be seemly to have “one of the surveyors” sign it for you, just to keep up appearances.
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There is nothing in the Oklahoma Statutes concerning preparing a survey for property you either own or are attempting to own, even though some might think the optics of doing so aren’t favorable. I personally don’t see anything wrong with it and I’ve done it numerous times over the years. The last time was in 2010 when I sold my folk’s old homestead. I was not only the seller, I was also the surveyor that signed a proper and current survey of the property. Talk about warranting the deed!
The one thing surveyors fight every day is the fact that our work will be subject to scrutiny from anyone, anytime and sometimes forever. You should be able to trust an able land surveyor to perform professionally on any property. Where lays the title is almost an afterthought to our work.
That’s my 1/50th. of a dollar.
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I agree that, barring a statutory prohibition, there’s nothing unethical about surveying one’s own property. The bigger question is, “Do any of the principals in a transaction in which I’m involved object?” That would likely be the controlling factor.
I was recently approached by a guy whom I’ve never met but who shares a back line with my next-door neighbor. He’s suing my neighbor over the siting of the new fence the neighbor built, claiming that it’s several feet on his property. He asked if I would be willing to survey the line to substantiate his case, and I said, “Sure!,” but cautioned him that involving a surveyor who’s so close to the situation might not be a good idea. I advised him to ask his attorney, and he got back to me a few days later saying that his attorney told him to get someone else. I recommended a colleague who live in another city.
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Nothing prevents you from doing it in Georgia Or Alabama, it is only your own conscience that prevents you.
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I would question the thinking of the person not wanting me to survey my own property.
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In Florida you can sign and seal a survey of your own property. I had a house built in 2000 and there was no way I would do the survey. Because if something went wrong or the house was not positioned properly who would I sue? Me? Not gonna happen. So a reputable surveyor that worked for the builder did all the surveying. We had set all lot corners in this subdivision previously and I’ll be damned, this “other surveyor” pin-cushioned every one of my corners. The iron rod markers are side by side with the caps touching. Go figure? ????
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Like Paden, this has happened a number of times for me. Nothing improper about it. Just be certain you are doing things identically to how you do them on every job. You may be questioned severely for any subjective decisions by some, like a coach playing their own child ahead of your own.
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Like the coach, you will be suspected of bias. If you sued a judge would you trust them to hear the case?
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How can you slept at night knowing your own property in a pin cushion?
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I would not Survey my own property, maybe and a big maybe if it was for a lot and block and all the corners were found. If it was any kind of acreage I would not Survey it.
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Thinking about pulling all rods and replacing the corners with monuments. ????
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Make sure to use Railroad ties, the bigger the monument the less chance of a pin cushion.
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Our laws require you to disclose potential conflicts of interest to our client. The practical effect is we can survey our own property, but we have to disclose if we survey for the neighbor.
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If I thought there was a potential problem, I probably wouldn’t survey my own. If its more or less a run of the mill job with no major problems, I don’t see a problem.
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Nope, they’ll just drill into the monument and pin cushion it.
PLS NJ & NY, PP NJ -
I have surveyed my own property. I checked with the Title Company and Bank beforehand, and they had no problem. Title Company was probably ecstatic, if I was to raise a survey problem at a later date they would just throw it back to me ???
I have also done the survey of both my home and office for building permits and the town had no problem with it.
If you can’t be trusted to ethically and correctly survey your own property you probably shouldn’t be surveying anyone else’s property.
PLS NJ & NY, PP NJ -
There is no way I would prepare the survey for a closing that I am a party to. I’m really surprised that so many see no issue with that. Seems like a pretty clear cut conflict of interest. Even if you take away the natural bias to view the boundary evidence favorable to yourself, you might make an honest mistake. If that mistake could be viewed to benefit you in the transaction, a reasonable person might conclude that it was intentional. That could result in an ethical violation and license revocation. I would definitely want an independent 3rd party to perform the survey. Though you can bet I would go over it with a fine toothed comb!
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Not to mention that I’m pretty sure your professional liability insurer would consider any problem arising from that survey as un-insurable.
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I also think any pre accepted law school student, could get the survey throw out in court.
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This.
When it comes to ethics, the standard is not “Am I able to perform this project without bias?” but “Might I appear to be biased or have a conflict of interest to an outside observer?”
Most surveyors would perform this task with integrity. But just because they/we can, does not mean we should.
From the LSAW Fundamental Canons:
“Professional Land Surveyors shall act in professional matters for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees, and shall avoid conflicts of interest.”
From another unrelated professional site (I like this one better; it is much more in line with professional ethics in general):
“Individuals shall avoid engaging in conflicts of interest whereby personal, financial, or other considerations have the potential to influence or compromise professional judgment and objectivity.”
A reasonable individual will conclude that surveying a piece of property that you own has a potential for a conflict of interest, whether conscious or unconscious. Full stop.
“…people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.” -Neil Postman
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