I was on a job today with the typical neighbor. I got out of the truck spotted a pin and grabbed the tape and pin finder to see if I could find the next. Distance goes to within an inch of the neighbors asphalt driveway. There's the monument with a white cap about an inch below sod. I tie on some ribbon and out comes the neighbor.
Neighbor: You can't set a stake on my property. The line is over there about 10'.
Me: I didn't set it, I found it and tied ribbon on it. I haven't accepted yet.
Neighbor: Why did you set it there? It can't be right!
Me: I didn't set it. Another surveyor did.
Neighbor: Nobody has had a survey for 20 years. What surveyor?
Me: Your surveyor. This is a copy of your plat when you bought the property and that is your surveyor's name stamped on the cap.
Neighbor: That was never there before! He must have come out recently and did this when I wasn't home.
Me: No sir, he died about 19 years ago.
I ended up finding his pins on the opposite side and pulling a tape across so he could see, and accept, that the pin was in the right place. Which was nice, even though all of the ones on my lot were in and checked, it always nice to plenty of verification.
When I left he was sitting on his deck on finishing his six pack and stewing.
Sometimes I run across the neighbors that are a real help, they know where the pins are, they sometimes even have copies of unrecorded surveys. But I'm 6'-4" and 300lbs, so most are generally defensive from the start.
What works really well, is to talk to the neighbor before searching for a monument. I typically ask them if they have ever had a survey? Tell me about your property boundaries? etc.
Imagine how a neighbor/client would react when he shows you a corner, but doesn't know exacty where the other corner is but shows you where "I think it should be here somewhere", then you have them help you measure out the distance on the plat or deed, and you find the "missing" monument while they watch. It makes you look brilliant, and after you find the corner, what would they have to argue about?
I've found many times is that involving the landowners (even though many times it is a waste of time), the survey goes much smoother for all involved.
I agree. Talk to the neighbors. In Kentucky, by trying to contact the neighbors it keeps you safe from a charge of trespassing. It is really part of the job even though it might be unpleasant sometimes.
> Neighbor: You can't set a stake on my property. The line is over there about 10'.
>
> Me: I didn't set it, I found it and tied ribbon on it. I haven't accepted yet.
>
> Neighbor: Why did you set it there? It can't be right!
>
> Me: I didn't set it. Another surveyor did.
See, the basic problem was that you were trying to nullify his rights as a landowner to establish his boundaries where he expected that they were. What any true pro would have done would have been to ask the neighbor how he "felt" about you finding a rod and cap monument that apparently was set more than 19 years ago. If he said "I wouldn't like it", that means that the rod and cap no longer means anything.
I know from reading columns in POB Magazine that this is elementary stuff, obviously true, but there are a few elitists who like to pretend that land boundaries have only a minimal relationship to the feelings of the landowners about them, which is why I bring this up.
This reminds me of surveying in Reno, Nevada in the nineties ... these were my worse type of surveys... a property line where two adjacent land owners who hated each other and are fighting over a couple inch strip of common line land...
... I could not imagine having a neighbor that I would hate so much then or today over something so small and inconstiquential ...
Instead of coming over to borrow a cup of sugar or enjoy a cup of coffee and a chat they prefer to go medieval on each other....never made any sense...
exactly! and the op didn't even mention where the telephone poles were. tsk tsk!
