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Price This! b/w Quiet Title vs. BLA
Boundary Line Adjustment. Guy with a 5000 square foot lot in a recent plat has negotiated with his neighbor, exterior to the plat, to buy a small triangle of land of less than a tenth of an acre, in order to “square up” his lot. Not to build, not for access, no squabble. Recent survey of the adjoiner parcel, too. Same company even.
The first “gotcha” is that the adjoiner is 8+ acres, with wetlands (previously delineated and mapped), ponds, creeks, powerline easement, and about 20 angle points on the boundary.
I’m trying to explain to the client that for a boundary line adjustment, it’s not a question of staking one line to draw and stamp, it’s a boundary survey of both parcels, including mapping the buildings and the adjoiner’s septic tank and field for the county’s BLA requirements. He hadn’t considered that in order to do a proper survey, the surveyor would have to measure around the adjoiner’s acreage.
I referred him to the company that did his plat and his adjoiner’s survey, however, I suspect he already talked to them and many other survey firms and balked at the prices, and I suppose the price seems astronomical for “doing one line.”
While researching, I found this article on a law firm’s web site:
http://beresfordlaw.com/how-to-adjust-property-lines-in-washington-state/
Since the guy isn’t building or changing zoning, seems like the “friendly quiet title” would solve his problem. In this instance it does seem like overkill to survey both lots for the one tiny triangle. It doesn’t help surveyors help the public if the BLA process is more cumbersome than the quiet title process. On the other hand, both the client and the adjoiner would apparently rather deal with a surveyor and the County than hire two attorneys, even for something “friendly”.
Your thoughts, Boss?
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