As a land surveyor, there is something that I find myself saying to someone almost every day: purchasers of real estate should procure a recent, quality land survey of the property before they buy it. I don’t say this simply to promote my business, in my years of experience I have seen many problems caused by the buyers’ mistaken expectations and sellers’ misrepresentations (usually unintentional), about the property being bought and sold. My advice has two key aspects to it: buyers and sellers both can benefit from 1) getting a survey, and 2) hiring a good surveyor.
The importance of this advice was highlighted in a recent court case from Rhode Island. A prospective buyer of a house had a survey done prior to purchase, and the survey revealed that the developer actually built the house on parkland, not the lot owned by the developer. The Rhode Island Supreme Court ordered the developer to move the house, rather than force a sale of the park property to the developer. The agreement between the park and the original donor of the land required that the land remain part of the park in perpetuity. Lesson: Get a survey before you buy!
Although the story does not give any detail, the developer blamed the fact that house was built in the wrong place on an “innocent surveying mistake”. While this is not enough information to judge the work of another surveyor, it does illustrate that you should do some diligence to make sure you are hiring a competent surveyor, just as you would if you were hiring a doctor, lawyer, or other professional. Lesson: Hire a good surveyor!
If you are interested in reading more about this matter, here is a link to the story, which shows a picture of the house.
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