You may feel confident that you know your property lines just by looking at your house and yard. The neighbor’s fence and where you mow your grass all seem to match the boundaries between other houses on your street.
Now imagine being so wrong about your property lines that you learn your house is built on the completely wrong lot. Even smaller mistakes or discrepancies between documents can lead to costly issues if you and a neighbor disagree over the location of your property line. Here’s what you need to know about finding your property lines, and how to use the information once you get it.
From permits to purchases, being able to identify your property lines accurately makes it much easier to complete a project or move forward with a transaction.
In most official cases, having a new survey done is the way to go. “Let’s say, for example, you want to build a swimming pool, and you’re not 100% sure where that easement is. You could have a new survey done,” explains Cynthia Durham Blair, a residential real estate closing attorney based in Columbia, South Carolina.
When you purchase a home, it’s not uncommon for your mortgage lender to require a new survey be conducted on the property. Even when that’s not the case, your title insurance company will likely recommend a new survey as well, so you know if the neighbor’s garage reaches over onto the property or if the outdoor kitchen encroaches on a sewer easement, which could be costly to remove down the line.
Blair says issues discovered in a new survey of the property may not be covered in the standard owner’s title insurance policy, but knowing those concerns before you close could help you decide if you need to renegotiate with the seller or walk away from the deal entirely.
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