Property line question

[BeerThirty]

I have a friend who has lived in their house nearly 25 years. It was surveyed and staked at that time, as well as bordering properties. Their neighbor on bordering property recently decided to have their land re-surveyed only to discover that what they had both thought to be true is in fact not. The boundary is off as much as 50 feet in some spots. The new surveyor states the prior survey 25 years ago was likely not done with gps. My friend is not wanting to initiate anything, but he just informed me that he has underground sprinklers installed that would now technically run onto the neighbors land. Isn’t there some kind of law that would allow my friend to keep that contested property since it went undisputed for so long and plus his sprinklers are underground there? He’s too nice to retaliate , but I just want to make sure he’s properly informed.

 

[Waddams]

I believe the term you are looking for is "Adverse Possession". You're friend may well have a claim under Georgia's adverse possession laws. See this link:
https://markweinsteinlaw.com/blog/n...rding to the law in,color of title” for seven

The adjoining property owner would have the same claim for the areas he's thought were his for the last 25 years too.

 

[Milkman]

I don’t know the answer to your question.
Survey lines were determined and marked for centuries prior to gps. A surveyor shouldn’t have to rely on that.

 

[4HAND]

Whoever surveyed our home place in the 50's certainly knew what they were doing.
Had it surveyed in 97 & again 2 years ago, both times separating out 2 ac.
It came out the exact same lines every time.

Sorry, got off topic a bit.

 

[specialk]

pretty sure gps was around 25 years ago.....

 

[notnksnemor]

50 feet is a long way to be off.
I would get a 2nd opinion and see if they match.

 

[Jim Baker]

How much property are you talking about. I just bought a sliver of 1100 sq. feet because the boat shed I built 30 years ago was only 1 foot from neighbors property. Contractor marked it off the wrong corner monument.

I bought a peice 8 foot wide to meet building code. Paid for it by the square foot based on the tax assessment.

I did that to clear up any cloud on my property and the neighbors. That would be my suggestion. Go to the neighbor and see if something can't be worked out. Better than being in limbo. He will know which way to go.

 

[mallardsx2]

A lot of things factor in with a boundary line dispute. Whether or not it was surveyed with GPS is NOT one of them....

Courts don't like to rule on Adverse Possession. And why would that even come into play at this point.... Adverse possession needs to be the following:
-Continuous
-Notorious
-Hostile
-Open
-Hostile
If you take away any of those you have not met the statutory requirements.

My recommendation would be to see if the Surveyor is still in business that did the original survey and give him a call and have him come out to re-mark the line. If there is a discrepancy, perhaps him and the other surveyor can work it out, if not, take your survey plat to an attorney who deals with property.

Then it's off to court. Tell your friend to brace himself as this will get expensive if it goes in this direction.

 

[trial&error]

Not saying anything about the surveyor, but I'd get a second opinion. I have experienced this when buying property. My guy had to go all the way back to the county primary marker just because it didn't add up.

 

[elfiii]

You don't have an adverse possession claim but you might have a prescriptive easement. Regardless, I'd get my own surveyor and have your property surveyed again. If you have to go to court you'll need it anyway and if not use it to negotiate a boundary line agreement with your neighbor and have it recorded.

 

[westcobbdog]

If your friend bought "owners title insurance" way back st original purchase you might contact them to discuss a claim.
Also get a copy of the new survey and have a second surveyor you choose compare this vs his work. Should be a reduced price as you aren't asking for a full Boundary line survey. Prolly just need part of the land resurveyed. There are diff kinds of surveys. Guessing you are saying neighbor got a basic boundary line survey showing property lines but no tile, which is things like easements for a neighbors driveway access or a for utility easements, ect..
Due to the extremely complicated situation, consider also contacting a real estate lawyer at a firm like Weissman Law or Campbell and Brannon. Plenty of sharp real estate attys out there.
Another idea is to buy a small amount of land from that neighbor or buy your own easement but redrawing a new survey and new legal description could get costly.

 

[gma1320]

My experience with some GPS is that is can be off depending on location. I think when it comes to this I would want to get another opinion, even if it cost to pay the surveyor

 

[SarahFair]

I thought taxes had to be paid on the piece of property for 7(?) years by the person wanting to claim it in order to claim adverse possession?

I'd go to the courthouse and pull survey records for both properties, and any surrounding property lines to compare.

 

[Big7]

Asking because I don't know.

If gps wasn't used all those years back, how would it be of any use today?

In my world there would have to be an
X=0
Y=0
Z=0
to start.

 

[westcobbdog]

I thought taxes had to be paid on the piece of property for 7(?) years by the person wanting to claim it in order to claim adverse possession?

I'd go to the courthouse and pull survey records for both properties, and any surrounding property lines to compare.

County online GIS and tax plats are never as accurate as a real Boundary line survey. Sometimes county or city GIS is way off. The Govt doesn't have a survey on everyone's property, only the somewhat accurate tax plats where they guess the lines are.

 

[mallardsx2]

Asking because I don't know.

If gps wasn't used all those years back, how would it be of any use today?

In my world there would have to be an
X=0
Y=0
Z=0
to start.

The x,y,z of yesterday was the P.O.B. (Point of beginning) in the deed and subsequent deeds.

Older surveys were ground distance surveys and todays gps surveys use grid coordinates. There is a scale factor to go from grid to ground but without getting too deep in the weeds it really doesn’t matter except over long distances.

GPS helps save time in todays world by not having to traverse around the boundary.

Wether or not GPS was or was not used is irrelevant as original monuments control.

There is a LOT more to boundary surveys than just distances.

For instance, Boundary surveyors don’t hold distances in high regard compared to other things such as original monuments etc etc.

 

[JustUs4All]

Yep, boundary markers were in existence long before anyone knew what GPS stood for and they are still even more accurate than GPS because they actually mark the spot on the ground.