Real Estate Transactions and Out-of-Date Boundary Surveys

real estate boundary surveys

Within numerous types of real estate transactions or situations, including home sales, boundary disputes and many others, a boundary survey is an important part of the process. Boundary surveys help with everything from defining property lines to placing the proper value on the land tract, and it’s important for the survey used in a given real estate situation to be accurate and up-to-date for these reasons.

At Diamond Land Surveying, we’ve provided numerous residential surveyor services to the real estate world over our years in business, including everything from standard boundary surveys to ALTA surveys, 3D laser scanning services and many other solutions. In certain cases, title companies involved in real estate transactions may reject the use of certain surveys if they are not up-to-date – let’s go over a few of the specific reasons for rejection here, plus what you’ll have to do to ensure accurate records are used, including the potential for having older survey measures fixed.

real estate boundary surveys

Age of Survey

For starters, many title companies will not use a boundary or property survey that’s past a certain age. This will depend on the title company in question – some may be fine with surveys that are under five years old, but others may be stricter and require a year or even six months for certain projects.

The reasons here are fairly straightforward: Older information is more likely to be inaccurate based on changes to the property since it was carried out. Title companies want to avoid any such risks.

Company Out of Business

In other cases, if the surveying company that originally performed the work is no longer in business, the title company may reject their survey for use on a real estate transaction. This is because a company that’s out of business does not allow the title company to clarify any questions or issues with the existing report, confirming its legitimacy directly from those who performed it.

Changing Property Conditions

Another common reason for a rejection of an older boundary survey is that the conditions of the property in question have changed significantly since said survey was carried out. This can refer to any work that’s been done on landscaping or fencing areas, from porch additions to pergolas, retaining walls or any others. If such work has been performed, it would be unrealistic for the title company to issue a policy based on older, out-of-date information.

No Survey Performed

Finally, there may be cases where only a Surveyor’s Real Property Report (SRPR) is performed. This is not the same as a boundary survey, and the vast majority of title companies will not allow you to use only an SRPR for obtaining insurance coverage. Rather, a legitimate boundary survey must also be performed.

For more on issues with out-of-date boundary surveys in real estate situations, or to learn about any of our land surveyor services, speak to the staff at Diamond Land Surveying today.