Inquiry: Survey Records – Records of Survey – Records of Monument
Big Al, post: 433262, member: 837 wrote: There are two types of land in Massachusetts – “recorded” (deed is claim of ownership) and “registered” (Torrens system – deed is registration or proof of ownership). While it is possible to do a survey of registered land without review of the Land Court (reviewing authority for registered land), it will do nothing to change the boundaries of the property.
Regarding the more common “recorded” land, Massachusetts does not require recording of plans when no new lines have been created (81X statement). When new lines are made (subdivision, etc.) the law requires that the Planning Board of the city or town in which the land lies review and endorse the plan. Without that endorsement, and short of fraud, the plan (in the latter case) can not be required.
I’m not sure how I feel about mandating the recording of plans. I can see some good reasons both for and against it. One of the benefits of introducing mandatory recording would be that a surveyor might count on finding a public record showing information about monuments set after the recording law was introduced. I have often encountered situations where I find a pipe, a rebar, or other monument, and have nothing describing where it came from, when it was set, or upon what basis. It is a puzzle. That said, given the long history here in Massachusetts, there are so many situations that are ambiguous, due to poor records, deterioration of monuments with time, etc. that I’m not sure introducing a mandatory recording law at this point would much help. With time, it might help.
Down sides might be increased costs to the public, introducing delays or other headaches by introduction of review process, etc.
I am curious as to how it works within the recording states – exactly at what point is the recording of a plan required?
Al
In Arizona a Record of Survey map must be recorded within 90 days of completion of the survey.
JKinAK, post: 433251, member: 7219 wrote: Do all states have a state recorder’s office or are some state’s recordings just county by county?
Iowa records county by county, but in recent years we have a state-wide electronic data base called Iowa Land Records that we can query for PDF files of the deed, survey, and corner records since whenever they started electronic archiving, probably 15 or 20 years back.
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