Why You Need to Know Your Property Lines

Understanding your property is an important step to being a responsible homeowner. This helps you know which parts of the lawn are your responsibility, makes filing an insurance claims in the future easier, and can contribute to a sense of ownership of your property.

When Do I Need to Know My Property Lines?

There are a few situations when you may need to know this valuable information. Rather than wait until one of these emergencies arise, get to know your property now so that you are equipped in the future.

• Property additions or renovations: Not all renovations require that you provide information about your property but it never hurts to have it on hand.
• Insurance claims: If you have damage to your home or property, you will need to know exactly where your property ends to determine the path forward to repair the damage.
• Neighbor disputes: Hopefully you don’t need to settle a dispute with your neighbor but if you do, it is vital that you have the full legal description and outlines of your property.

Finding Your Property Lines

If you don’t know the exact location of your property lines, it is a great idea to hire a surveyor to take full stock of your property. Not only will this allow you to know exactly where you can plant those shrubs without worrying about damaging your relationship with your neighbors, it may also be required if you want to do any renovations or additions in the future.

Surveyors use a combination of specialized tools and investigative skills to determine exactly where your property ends and your neighbor’s begins. They will need to come to your property to take measurements and write down details about the land and structure. They will also look through public records to see what information is available about the property and see if there are any older surveys that can provide details.

When they are done, the surveyor will provide a physical document called a survey (often delivered electronically as well). If you do apply for a building permit when doing any renovations in the future, you might need to provide a copy of this survey.