Here’s one for the books.
A guy (A) buys a lot in an old subdivision. It is was 144’ deep and is now 134’ deep.
The adjoiner to the rear had bought 10’ of the lot a number of years ago.
Adjoiner wants to buy an additional 15’ of Guy A’s lot.
Guy A has me do a survey of both lots and show the proposed lot line so they can do the deal.
I don’t hear anything for years.
Now I hear from Guy B, who has bought Guy A’s lot. Guy B’s deed is the same as when Guy A bought the lot. It’s 134’ deep and it doesn’t appear that Guy A and Adjoiner ever completed their deal for the 15’. I certainly can’t find anything on record between Guy A and Adjoiner.
Guy B thinks that Adjoiner has erected a retaining wall with a fence on top of it on his lot and wants me to survey it. I do the survey and the fence and retaining wall are indeed on his lot and would have been in the 15’ that never transferred to Adjoiner. Hmmm.
Adjoiner comes home while I’m there and says that he did indeed buy the 15’ from
Guy A. I explain that I couldn’t find anything on record, he is unimpressed. I finish the survey and try to contact Adjoiner a few times to see if we can figure out what might have happened. No response.
Last night I get a call from Guy B who says that the GIS has changed within the last 3 days and now shows his lot at 119’…the 15’ is gone. WTF? I check all my research and again, find nothing on record, but this is starting to shake me up a little.
I get an email from Guy B today and here’s what he tells me…
Adjoiner went down to the GIS office with my old survey and asked the GIS tech to change the line because he had indeed bought the 15’ strip and would bring a deed down within a week to prove it.
Wait for it...
...
...
...
...
THE GIS GUY DID IT!!! Just changed the line and the associated lot dimensions. Adjoiner never comes back with a deed, but I'll wager he had time to take some sort of screenshot to prove he had the 15'.
Adjoiner has hired a litigating attorney and I think will learn an expensive lesson about real estate transfer. The only thing I can figure out is that Guy A and Adjoiner did the deal, may have had a deed drawn up, maybe not, but they never recorded an thing.
Heck, that's so easy. why haven't I thought of it. Just change a line in the GIS and transfer property. 😉
I guess the article in an issue of The Professional Surveyor Magazine in the 1980's saying that, "Surveying as We Now Know It Will Not Be The Same in 20 or More Years" is starting to become a reality.
so what's the gig in NC? first deed or first to file?
may be that Mr. Adjoiner is out 15' if it's first to file.
either way, you could be Mr. Witness.
ENJOY! (yeah right)
and keep us posted. o.O
Why, everyone knows that the GIS / Tax Maps are "surveyed lines" and they cannot be wrong! Heavy reliance is placed on these drawings. They are as good as a real survey! They show the lines in their proper positions and can be relied upon!
Or so I have been told......:'(
I see that a lot around here, houses shown over property lines. I get on their list of local surveyors, and stick a business card on their board.
If they are both in agreement where the line should be, do whats required
in your locality to make it legal
Talk about open and notorious! Put it on the internet!
the GIS is immaterial, it has no legal standing. The deed (if it exists) is valid but absent someone providing the deed to me, I will show my survey per the field evidence and record that I can find. I am not required to find unrecorded deeds that may or may not exist.
Not knowing the protocol of the GIS office, it is difficult to judge the mapper, but at least he made the change based on a good survey.
Every GIS that I have seen that shows property lines has a disclaimer indicating that it is not to be used for determining boundaries. Most GIS products are extremely useful for the purpose they are intended. The fact that many misuse them does not override their usefulness for the intended purpose. Just as your survey was apparently misused, so is the GIS map being misused.
As noted by others, I don't think the GIS map has any legal standing for determining boundaries or ownership.
Jerry
the guy probably pressured the kid behind the computer or sweet talked him to rectify an issue. either way this smells like gooey icky stuff.
g.(Get)i.(It)s.(Surveyed!) (emphasis added)!
+1
GIS maps are nearly worthless for boundaries. A few years ago, Tennessee created a statewide GIS showing all the tax parcel lines over an aerial photo. Suddenly, where no boundary issue had ever existed, an issue appeared (at least in the mind of property owners). For instance, according to the GIS, my mother owns her neighbors house.
An excellent client of mine, a realtor, came in the other day telling me how a former seller he represented is threatening to sue him. We surveyed this lot 10 years ago, and a few years after that, mister suer bought it. Well, the GIS is screwed up and they have the lot mapped in the wrong place. Mr. Suer thinks that he doesn't own the lot with the home he lives in, and instead owns a vacant lot. That's all nonsense, but you can't reason with him because he is convinced the GIS is gospel.
