Information on Surveying Property Lines

A professional surveyor is required for a legally binding land assessment.

Surveying property lines establishes ownership boundaries. While any homeowner can flag the surveyor poles on their land for easy viewing, a professional surveyor must first inspect the land and set the poles or pegs.

Property Survey

Surveying property lines typically occurs before buying or selling a piece of property. A real estate appraiser or mortgage lender must be able to identify exactly what land is included in the parcel for a valid deed transfer to be issued.

Ownership Deed

A legal property description is filed at the local courthouse with the property ownership deed. Such information is public record. Copies of the filed property survey are available for a fee. A detailed legal description serves as a text guide to locating the established property poles or pegs. Moving a surveyors pole is punishable by either a fine or possible jail time.

Locating Poles

Reviewing a property survey requires a measuring tape and a copy of the property deed. After locating the front right corner of the property, a laymen should be able to follow the typed directions to locate each peg or pole and determine the lot size or acreage of a particular land parcel.

References

• Surveying and Geomatics
• Rockville Maryland Municipal
• American Congress on Surveying and Mapping