So you are buying a home in Raleigh, and the topic of purchasing a Real Estate Survey arises… Amongst so many costs, you wonder
WHY EVEN GET A SURVEY?
The answer is a resounding YES. A survey will show the exact location of any buildings, improvements, roads, driveways, and/or encroachments on the property, and the specific location of the property boundaries. Any potential problems regarding matters of survey can then be discovered prior to closing while they are still the Seller’s problems, rather than post-closing when it will be the Buyer’s problem. A survey is not the same as a subdivision plat. Also, an old survey from a prior owner is not really an adequate substitute for a new survey obtained specifically for the new Buyer. If a Buyer does not get a Survey their owner’s policy of title insurance contains an exception for easements, setbacks and other matters that would have been shown on a survey.
Below are a few examples of situations that arise all too often where the owner really needed a new survey prepared specifically for them, for title insurance and other reasons:
1. Access:
Does the owner have “reasonable”, “legal”, or any right of access at all? Is this clear from the public record? Is the physical access within this legal access? Some examples: The driveway is actually across the property line on the neighbor’s property or in an exclusive right-of-way for the benefit of an unfriendly neighbor. Physical access is over a private road, even though they abut a public road, and no one is sure who is responsible for maintenance of the private road, if anyone. Does your owner need a search of and title insurance coverage for a critical appurtenant easement? Is the access actually located in (but not recorded in the Registry of) the adjoining county? (NOTE: Physical access used may not be the same as the “legal” or “reasonable” access covered by a title policy.)
2. Acreage:
Was actual acreage important to your owner in determining the value of the property? Will the sale violate a subdivision ordinance? Loss through an acreage discrepancy of even one acre of land to be developed for an office park may have serious financial ramifications for your development plan.
3. Waterfront:
Does the property extend to the lake’s high water mark or is it just lake view? Have creeks moved, rivers or beaches eroded? Is there any filled area? Or are there areas that have been excavated (for a boat dock, for example) placing the areas outside the lot’s boundary that the plat sets at an elevation and not a location (common on power company lakes)? Is the lot even above water?
4. Utilities:
Electrical, sewer, or other rights-of-way, either underground or currently underutilized, whose location or size would be clearly apparent on a survey, may inhibit or prevent contemplated construction or replacement of improvements on the property. Wells or septic fields may be located on other nearby properties, for which appurtenance conveyances, easements and maintenance agreements may be needed to protect a buyer.
5. Road rights-of-way:
Where are your improvements in relation to the actual state- or city-claimed right-of-way, including gas pumps, signs, needed parking areas?
6. Setbacks, buffers:
Can you identify and protect yourself with regard to any violations?
7. Governmental exclusions:
Illegal subdivisions, revised flood zones, street widening, or other governmental matters not covered by a title insurance policy may be shown or made apparent on a survey. New sidewalks or sewer lines (indicating potential assessments not yet billed) may be indicated.
8. Boundary lines:
Remember the rules of construction. Abutters’ claimed boundaries are a “permanent monument” with clear priority over metes and bounds. Do your owner’s expectations match these presumptions? Is it even the same “dirt” your owner thinks they are buying? Are the parties contracting for one rental home, where the old legal description into the seller actually included two homes?
9. Wrong property altogether:
The owner has good title to (and a good title policy coverage on) Lot 1 of Happy Homes Subdivision. Unfortunately the house they thought they bought was on Lot 2. And by the time this was determined, Lot 2’s title was in chaos after intestate decedents’ estates, minor heirs, and foreclosures had intervened.
10. Old improvements:
Existing building in a very old subdivision was substantially destroyed by casualty. It could not be rebuilt in compliance with current zoning ordinance without seeking (and obtaining) a variance, the outcome of which is uncertain.
11. Old plats:
One of last undeveloped lots in a 1920’s subdivision was purchased (without survey). Several years later when the owners planned to begin construction, a new survey using new technology reflected the remaining lot area to be 10% less than originally thought, causing serious revision of the building plans and substantial cost.
12. Encroachments by others:
A neighbor’s stone wall cuts off a 10’ strip from the side of the owner’s property. Or an old driveway still in use for access to mobile home in the woods actually crossed rear portion of lot in new upscale neighborhood.
13. Encroachments by your owner:
New owner of adjoining property demands removal of fence encroaching onto their property.
14. Improvements:
Is this a mobile home, requiring verification of title cancellation, permanent foundation, property tax listing, etc.? Is there evidence of recent construction which might indicate a risk of mechanics’ liens arising post-closing?
15. Marketability and re-sale:
Maybe you do not care about an encroachment or other survey matter, but the next person purchasing from you may care enough to back out of the contract or at least delay the closing until a matter can be resolved – at the your expense.
16. Liability:
Most importantly, if the owner does not obtain their own new survey, they have no privity of contract with the surveyor – and no claim against a surveyor for any inaccuracies in a prior survey that was prepared from someone else.