Releasing old survey maps

I would say yes. give it to them. Land records run with the land not the owner.

I agree with Dan. Arguments about intellectual property aside, the survey was an investment in the property by whoever paid for it. You wouldn't ask the question of whether it's ethical to let the new owner swim in the pool the old owner had built would you? Same idea. The grantor leaves behind his interest in the appurtenances that represent investments in the land, and he leaves behind his interest in the survey he commissioned you to do.

Actually here in Maine it's generally thought that records run with the client, not the land and not necessarily the owner. Though I think elsewhere, perhaps especially within the PLSS, it's as DanMuth says.

I generally get at least a verbal go-ahead from the client before releasing unrecorded material, but with common-sense exceptions. I.e. if the client has sold the land and moved away, has died, etc.

Over the years I've had maybe 3 or 4 projects about which the client has told me that under no circumstances is information to be released (obviously the plans themselves remain unrecorded). And I've respected those wishes. Our board's standards state that "A licensee shall not reveal information which has been designated as confidential by the client or employer without the prior informed written consent of the client or employer, except as authorized or required by law."

Ethical, maybe. Smart, no.

We release maps to folks who are running into problems that we've already fought, unless its the surveyor who lowballed the job.

> Now; nine years later, an engineer or architect calls you and wants a paper copy of the plat.

No. Nine years is just too long. Design surveys are not recorded in my area. Site conditions can change.

I have never been paid by a clump of earth, so the "land" being involved is out of the picture.

This is not my hard and fast rule though..it does depend if I release anything or not.

PS If I ever get a call from a dirt clod, I would hand deliver a copy no matter how long ago I did the survey.

I guess when I asked the question

I guess when I asked the question, I wasn't thinking about liability or whether you should charge a nominal fee (or not) for the service...

I was thinking that you are giving away what someone else paid for, which also may contain information that the client may NOT wish to be made public.

9 years, 9 days, doesn't matter. I will call the client before releasing any surveys or cad files. I have an open door for any surveyor (or most anyone else for that matter) needing assistance, if I can be of help. Survey plats and cad files are dealt with on a case by case basis, but control, opinions on what I found, held and why, research, etc, no problem whatsoever. Call me.

I have been told by some very good attorneys that if you release copies of older surveys, your liability for the survey is extended. Therefor, I generally don't release them to anyone other than another surveyor.

> I have been told by some very good attorneys that if you release copies of older surveys, your liability for the survey is extended. Therefor, I generally don't release them to anyone other than another surveyor.

I'm pretty sure that's only if you put a new date on it. If just providing a copy with the old date, any statute of limitations goes from that date. A new date implies you've done additional work.

I was told that it doesn't matter if you change the date or notnmor if you use any disclaimers. When the plat was presented to the client and payment received, your obligation to them is fullfilled.

I still check with client anytime a map goes out the door , Surveyors to. I have a client that was in a law-suite. I did not know it .The other party surveyor asked for the map . I say sure . The little voice in my head says call the client first . He says no, he his in a law-suite with this guy . So he did not get the map.

> I was told that it doesn't matter if you change the date or notnmor if you use any disclaimers. When the plat was presented to the client and payment received, your obligation to them is fullfilled.

Well, that happened when you first created the plat. So since you are not purporting to provide additional surveying by providing a copy later, how would that add to your liability connected with the survey?

Releasing Medical records from your Doctor

Releasing tax returns from your CPA.

Do you think your client would want you to release their survey. Remember private documents are just that. When they become public record...well then thats another issue.

If an architect is asking for your plat, then some building is
going to take place. I hope I got that boundary in the right place.
I also would like to do the topo for the architect. I would also
like to do the construction layout for engineer.

Why would I give my competitor the plat via an architect or engineer?
Having the deed records scanned for my county and the next nearest county,
I would check who is the current owner or call the asssessor.

I never release the survey to someone other than the one that ordered, or benefitted from it at the time of the survey. In other words, if X orders a survey because he is selling to Y, I will let Y have a copy of the plat. If Y later sells to Z, fuhgeddaboutit.

Now, I have had some people come in and want to look at a copy of the survey of their property they recently bought so will know where their lines are. In those cases I will give them a copy, HOWEVER, I will cut off the title block, our logo, and the seal. All they will get is the lines around their tract, which is usually good enough for what they need.

Those Comparisons Don't Work

Craig,

Your medical and tax reports are personal, they pertain to your body and your finances which you take with you. You do not sell parts of your body (not in the US anyway), but if you gave away a kidney, marrow, or some other part, your medical reports would be shared with the doctor of the receiving patient, and is put into that patient, your pertinent medical reports would be available to that patient.

Same with certain financial assets, such as a business. If you sell the business or other asset, part of the transaction process is to review the financials associated with it.

A survey is not as personal, by a long shot as either a medical report or tax documents. If it were, there would be no mandatory recording states at all.

Acknowledging that in some states, the law has put private business contract terms in higher priority than property records in that they recognize an agreement for confidentiality to be superior to reasonable access to records of one's property, I don't think that is true in most areas. Perhaps those states don't have much in the way of disclosure requirements in real estate transactions either.

I agree....now... call me and

ask for a copy of a survey. Then let's see how things work out.

They can go to the courthouse and get a copy made of it Monday thru Friday. No big deal to me one way or the other. It's already out there for the whole world to see.

sure ..give it to them, as long as they PAYS for an UPDATE