As I stand on my front porch admiring my small, but spectacular, spring garden, nestled under my two towering spruce trees, I am very wrong about everything I see.
The first 30 feet or so in from the street belong to the city even though I am charged to look after this land. I'm caretaker of the retaining wall, trees, and plants, but not owner of the land they occupy.
The actual property line marking the limit of my ownership is not the street curb that I consider as delineating what's mine from public property. My ownership begins at an invisible line called the street line, not visible to anybody, but a surveyor. (In different jurisdictions, this ownership demarcation may have a different name, like building line.)
The marked line, running left of the hedge on Edith Avenue and parallel to it, is the street line.
©Copyright 2012 Association of Ontario Land Surveyors, AOLS.org
In Ontario, licensed land surveyors (OLS) are members of the Association of Association of Ontario Land Surveyors (AOLS). The designation requires successful completion of a university program, an articling period, and professional exams.
The visual confusion assailing property owners extends to the other property boundaries, too. Fences are taken as identifiers of what's mine and what's not, but their location can only be determined by a surveyor's skill. Are your fences on the property line, or on one side or other of that boundary? Only a survey (more accurately called a plan of survey) can identify exactly where boundaries - and, therefore, fences - are on the land. But a plan of survey's value lies beyond this basic clarification.
You think you can count on knowing that you own the buildings on your property, but you can't especially if they are near a property boundary. Once again, only surveyors can confirm that the garage or patio lies entirely within a property, or extends or encroaches on neighbouring land.
Even obvious overlaps like eavestroughs require a survey to establish exactly how much of an encroachment is involved. If a gutter or garage extends only a few inches into the neighbouring property, problems can arise. Ever tried to move a garage 6 inches to the left to pacify an irritated neighbour? Mortgage lenders don't like encroachments because they can lead to legal issues which could delay a quick sale should the homeowner default on the mortgage.
Title insurance can satisfy lender concerns because this product provides financial compensation for losses, but title insurance may not identify specific problems before closing or offer alternatives. Nor does it certify title in the ways a Surveyor's Real Property Report (SRPR) - considered “the best disclosure of the extent and quality of title" - does through its detailed plan and accompanying written report highlighting the OLS's opinion of any issues regarding title. Purchasers benefit from having the property they buy surveyed to ensure they know what they are getting. There are too many examples of cases, especially in cottage country, where how a property looks is quite different from the way ownership is revealed in a survey.
A plan of survey is not created in isolation, but ties the property to others in the neighbourhood, according to the original survey of the area. AOLS Deputy Registrar Maureen Mountjoy, OLS, OLIP describes this as fitting one property into “the fabric or the framework" of a street by researching previous surveys in the area and local details. Mountjoy explains: “You're trying to establish the original intent of the survey, so you can't just survey the property like an island. It has to be in conjunction with everything around it."
What are you missing when you stand and “survey" all that you own - or think you do? Perhaps, a plan of survey?
Resource - This AOLS brochure provides additional detail on the value of and relevance of plans of survey: Click Here ©Copyright 2012. Association of Ontario Land Surveyors, aols.org
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