?ÿThe following is taken from the new Florida Standards of Practice: (emphasis added by me)
2. Prior to making the survey, the licensee shall perform research of records with sufficient scope and depth to identify with reasonable certainty:
?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿa. The location of the record boundaries,
?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿb. Conflicting record and ownership boundary locations within, abutting or affecting the property or access to same,
?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿc. None of the above is intended to require the surveyor to perform a title search
?ÿ
Required to research records, but not required to search title(?).?ÿ Seems like a distinction in search of a difference.
I can appreciate what a title search entails especially in the fact actual ownership is determined, but I would appreciate others take on exactly what the State is directing the surveyor & mapper to do...or not to have to do.?ÿ
Thanks,
Here's my two cents, as a former licensed Florida practitioner:
You need to research your current deed and the current deeds of the adjoiners.?ÿ If all the descriptions fit together, you're good.?ÿ If there are missing pieces, you need to keep going.?ÿ For instance, if your deed has an overlap with a neighbor, there may be an exclusion that was dropped from the deed at some time in the past.?ÿ
I would think that this requirement stops surveyors from using the excuse of "I used the current deed, and that's all I'm supposed to do is survey what my client's deed says".
Thanks Tommy. Good points.
There are many times of course, when is impossible to know if an adjoining deed harmonizes or not without actually taking it and surveying it too. For example when it commences at a different place. What to do?
A title search is necessary to make a decision upon who owns the property.
Record search can accomplish that and can be limited to finding out the correct limits of the property.
For example, many times I look at the most recent description of a property as following some exisiting fence or line of trees or something that was not addressed in the orginal description that defined the boundaries.
Many times is is very obvious that properties were surveyed by mere occupation alone and no research or ground search was made to find any existing monument.
"with sufficient scope and depth to identify with reasonable certainty"
Those words define our purpose and should never be ignored.
0.02
I avoid calling my research a title search because I'm not abstracting the title which could be a huge task.
I prefer calling it a "title history."?ÿ The purpose is to find the key documents in the chain going backwards to accurately survey the boundary. It would be impractical to do complete title research for every survey and unnecessary.?ÿ In some rare cases it is necessary, such as old historic boundaries which have become unclear over time or haven't been maintained and there are large conflicts.
