When should you get a Land Survey?

There are several reasons and or situations that you should be getting a land survey. Below are our top 7 reasons:

1. Buying a new piece of land in which case banks would usually require it.

2. Building anything new on your property such as an addition or extension.

3. You have or believe your have access easements. An access easement is when the land belongs to one party, but another party has the legal right to use it for a specific purpose such as getting to the road.

4. If you are selling the property and wish to improve your marketability.

5. To verify boundaries of your property for tax purposes. In most jurisdictions lot dimensions are a key determinant in calculating your property taxes.

6. The neighbour starts building something such as a fence or other structure that could be encroaching on your property.

7. You plan on subdividing your property to give to a family member or sell for profit.

Generally speaking the purpose of a survey is to protect your investment, and you can normally get a free survey estimate from a surveyor. Depending if you have some research or an old survey in your possession your cost can be reduced. Your local municipality’s building department may also possess a survey of your property, and can be obtained very small fee relative to getting a new survey for your property. Last week for a property we own in Hamilton Ontario I paid approximately $20.00 to get an old survey from the city as opposed to getting a new one done which would have cost approximately $2,000.

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