FIVE FUNDAMENTAL REASONS

A complete and accurate land survey is of fundamental importance in nearly all real estate transfers. A comprehensive land survey and physical inspection of the property is the only efficient and reliable means of delineating the physical limits of the property and locating the improvements on it. Yet land surveys are one of the least understood and most frequently overlooked elements in a real estate transaction.

Here are five fundamental reasons for requiring land surveys in real estate transactions:

1. Existence of the Property
2. Relationship of the Property to Adjoining Properties
3. Relationship of Occupied Lines to Record Lines
4. Location of Physical Improvements
5. Unrecorded Easements and Other Facts not Recorded

The above five reasons for obtaining a survey are fundamental in the case of a title survey or boundary survey. When construction or engineering surveys are involved, the concerns are different, and a survey prepared for an architect or consulting engineer will normally have vastly different standards than a title survey. Therefore, an attorney who uses an engineering survey to advise a client about boundary and title questions may be flirting with malpractice and negligence. For example, a topographic survey, like the "plot plan," is designed to aid an architect or engineer in the design and layout of a building, not to give a professional opinion on the location of the boundaries. Some attorneys believe that if they acquire an "as-built" survey, they have acquired the highest quality survey available. However, an "as-built" survey is merely a detailed map of a building or other improvement and its relation, as built, to the plans it was built from. It does not addressed boundary or title concerns. Therefore, it is important to know what survey is right for you and whether you are in need of a title survey or an engineering survey.

Reference:

Land Surveys, a Guide for Lawyers, 1987

“Real Property Division”, Real Property, Probate & Trust Law Section, American Bar Association

Authors: Mitchell G. William and Harlan J. Onsrud

Additional information provided by www.copls.com