okiesurveyor

This is one of the most common misconceptions among landowners today. In an earlier blog I wrote about evidence that surveyors use to retrace a boundary location. Fences certainly can be part of that evidence. That does not mean, however, that a landowner should assume that a fence is built on the property line. Fences have been built for many reasons, containing livestock or pets, providing a visual barrier, even just plain ol’ decoration. Sometimes a fence may be built to mark a boundary line but my experience says this is more often the exception than the rule. Many properties have utility easements or building setback lines along their perimeter and fences are often built along those lines instead of the actual property line. If you didn’t personally build the fence in question, it would be better to assume that it is NOT on the property line. At least that way you won’t get yourself into trouble later for building your fence on the adjoiner’s property. Many landow...

I hear this question a lot from landowners who have GPS technology at their disposal. Either a handheld “navigational” GPS or even an iPhone app that shows GPS coordin ates. The question is fair enough but the answer is most usually, PLEASE DON’T! A surveyor can, and does, use GPS equipment to record a coordinate value for points that he/she has surveyed. When a surveyor later retraces the location of that property corner, all evidence recovered must be evaluated in order to recover or replace the corner. That evidence comes in many forms: physical monuments, artificial monuments, distances or bearings. Coordinates are another form of evidence that can be considered by the retracing surveyor. However, the coordinate value is lower in importance than any other form of evidence with the exception of area (acreage). To consider GPS coordinates as the only source to replace or locate a property corner would be a serious error and one that would most likely result in the ...