I have the records of a LS that worked for himself in the 70's, and he gave them to me because he was tired of people calling him looking for copies of his maps.
I understand why, now that I am being asked to find copies of his maps that may have a POB issue.
A title company called me, a week or two ago, looking for one of his maps, because of this POB issue. I found the map, scanned it and emailed it to them.
So today I get a phone call, which I did not have time to answer, and then an email, asking me to call them.
So now they are wanting me to look for another map and they want a better copy of the map that I had scanned for them before.
They are trying to get the LS to do an act of correction for surveys that were issued in 75 and in 77, but the LS has retired from surveying in 2006, so that is not going to happen.
In my mind it seems like they should just hire a surveyor to resurvey the tract and address the POB issue, but they probably do not want to pay for a new survey.
Am i under any obligation to jump through hoops for these people?
Can I be held liable for giving these people a copy of the survey knowing that they are going to have it recorded to try and correct a past mistake?
BTW, I get zero calls from these people for work and the only time I have any dealings with them is when they are doing title work for someone that I have done work for, not that it really matters.
Thanks.
Bloodsuckers
That's my general opinion of profitmakers who expect someone else who should be a profitmaker to forfeit the opportunity for a profit because that would be the simplest way for them to make their profit.
You don't have a dog in the fight. You are merely a custodian of some old records that were created by someone else. You have absolutely no obligation to give anything away. You have already given them more than they deserve and they thank you by trying to gouge you for even more uncompensated time.
"Am i under any obligation to jump through hoops for these people?"
Do you really have to ask? 😉 And you have no obligation to furnish acquired records to anyone. (unless subpoenaed)
If I had the records that were the work of another surveyor they would be used for reference material.
The only people I would acknowledge the records were in my possession and give a copy to would be that surveyor and anyone that had worked on those surveys and/or their client wanting a copy of their old survey.
0.02
$150 an hour for records search: minimum 2 hours, no guarantee of reproduction quality and no records leave your possession.
Take it or leave it.
:good:
Pile them up in the burn pit and toss in a match! If it was a survey to create a new parcel of land, then the legal description should be filed.....
Then what good is a survey plat from the 70's?
:-X
😛
BTW, I saw your hero the other day, floating a barge down the Tangipahoa River, being pushed by a paddle wheel boat with no steering and he was using the boom of a front end loader to make the whole thing turn. Dude is insane.
I probably would deny ownership of other people's records to anyone that wasn't a surveyor. And when I retire, I'm certainly changing my phone number and not returning calls from title companies who track me down.
This is pretty unusual in California due to filed Record of Survey maps but apparently Marin County (north of SF) is a little microcosm of most of the rest of the U.S.
According to a thread on the California Forum several Surveyors own old records and even old title company plants that they charge for access. Our filing law goes back to at least 1939 and I think the previous version was 1907 so that isn't an excuse.
Of course you can't require a current surveyor to file maps made by previous generations.
This subject has become a raging battle in some parts of CA. But the answer is "no", you are not under any obligation to give them copies of those maps without being compensated for your time and expenses.
If part of your expenses related to the maps is storage and maintenance of them, figure that into your fee. At a minimum, charge them for your time determining what they need, finding, copying, and sending the map.
It is a near certainty that if you continue to give them copies of these maps as if your time has no value, they will eventually ask or demand that you fix the problem survey for free as well. Their in-house attorney, or their client's attorney may even try to force feed you some hogwash about having accepted the liability of the surveys when you accepted the records. As I said, Hogwash.
You can choose to offer to perform the survey at whatever fee you think is appropriate. Ensure that you have a written contract and a deposit in hand before beginning if they have already tried to convince you of your liability.
> Am i under any obligation to jump through hoops for these people?
So, do they charge you for access to their abstract plant (assuming such things exist in Louisiana)? If yes, then simply send them a schedule of the fees you charge for access to the records in YOUR possession. Include a disclaimer, naturally,.
Thank you all for the comments.
I agree with all of the comments. If you have this info and it is a task to supply the info to title companies, attorneys etc. then you have to set a business policy.
$100-$150 for information retrieval is justifiable. If you like the client then you could shave it down. If they are a PIA then $150 should compensate you.
Also you can change the delivery mode. Instead of scanning & email, you can copy and mail by FedEx and charge more for the carriage. This would let them deal with the scanning and all the etcetera’s. Even though scanning/email is simpler, you do lose control of the transmittal of the info.
Like others have said, it is your property and you do what you need to do.
You already know the answer. No liability issues at all, unless you signed the work. Don't let any more copies out though.
SIMPLY PUT . . .
Giving out old surveys can cause heartache or headache, but by your own admission . . . absolutely NOTHING beneficial to you.
SIMPLY PUT . . .
The benefits are less tangible and immediate.
Goodwill, more so among fellow surveyors than title companies, so they will share information with you.
Perhaps helping someone figure out a a problem and fix it right, instead of messing up a neighborhood worse for you to deal with some day when a client from that area calls you.
SIMPLY PUT . . .
If I was in Dan's shoes, I wouldn't have any trouble helping out another surveyor, but I'll be danged if I'm going to help a lawyer or cheapskate client for little or no compensation. A flat fee of $150 per map sounds reasonable.
> Pile them up in the burn pit and toss in a match! If it was a survey to create a new parcel of land, then the legal description should be filed.....
>
> Then what good is a survey plat from the 70's?
>
> :-X
This cannot be a serious post.