The answer: Fence ownership is determined by where your fence lays on the property line. If your fence is right on the property line between your neighbor's property and your property, neither you nor your neighbor owns a side; it's a shared fence and a shared responsibility.
LandGlide: Map App with Boundaries and Owner DataLandGlide is a mobile app for your smartphone or tablet that instantly enables you to obtain property information while standing in a field, sitting in a car, or at the office.
A surveyor is a professional who can measure and map the property lines for you. The surveyor will mark the lines at the corners with stakes. Be present when the surveyor comes to measure your property, so he can point out where the property lines are.
If you have a transit, you need to set up on the first mark and shoot your lines with the transit. Use a compass to find north (0 degrees), then shoot your line to your property plat. East is 90, south is 180, west 270.
You can view parcel boundaries, or view property lines in Google Earth™ and other GIS applications via a familiar map view format and quickly digest key location intelligence information. Our clients benefit from receiving current, aggregated nationwide parcel line and property attribute data sets from one source.
A property survey looks like a sketch drawn from an aerial perspective and may be as simple as four boundary lines with their respective dimensions. Surveys can also be more detailed and include past improvements to the property, topography, utilities, and more.
Property pins are metal stakes that will sometimes have a round top and a plastic colored cap on them. Over the years, they often get buried beneath sod or other landscaping and are generally found just a few inches below the surface.
Land surveys can cost anywhere between $100 and $900, but most average around $500. The cost of a land survey depends on a series of factors such as property size, terrain and geographic location.
The simple answer is that there is no requirement to obtain a survey of the legal description boundaries before installation of a new fence.
How to Use a Compass to Find Your Property Lines
- Find the local difference between true north and magnetic north (known as declination).
- Locate a beginning point corner mentioned in your deed description.
- Position your body in the direction of the next corner, using the compass as your guide.
- Walk the deed described length to the next corner.
How much does a property line survey cost? The average price for a residential property line survey of a quarter-acre lot is $500 with most homeowners spending between $380 and $540. Cost factors include any terrain complexities or issues locating official documents about the land can affect the final price.
Use the Go To command on your GPS to navigate to each waypoint marking the corner of your land. Please realize that there are limits to the accuracy of your GPS receiver. This technique should get you within a few feet of a property corner and will help you narrow down where to search to find missing survey monuments.
You must show legal evidence in order to refute a surveyor's findings. If after discussing the problem with the surveyor you still feel it has not been resolved to your satisfaction, there are other avenues that may be pursued. You can hire a land surveyor of your own choice to perform a separate boundary survey.
You can request an orange piece of cloth be attached so that they are easily seen. A surveyor may also mark property lines with orange spray paint or orange tape where trees are located along the property boundary.
If you have access to a metal detector, move the device over the ground along the sidewalk to the curb to locate the survey pin. Pins may be buried just under the surface, or up to a foot below.
Section 14-111 of the Real Property Code makes it a criminal misdemeanor for any person to willfully obliterate, damage or remove any marker or other landmark set in the property of another person by any civil engineer, surveyor or real estate appraiser or any of their assistants.
On rare occasions survey companies do make mistakes. If they have indeed made a mistake, you have several options. If the lender or title company has an issue with a fence line or similar issue, they may call exception to it on the title policy.
Pink
flags – These are used as temporary survey markings. As surveyors measure, they mark their work with pink
flags. Measure twice, cut once, and use plenty of pink
flags. Pink is also used to mark mysteries.
Utility Flag Marking Cheatsheet.
| Flag Color | Use |
|---|
| Purple | Undrinkable water lines |
| Green | Sewer lines |
