Bob Aaron: Get the details of property you’re buying in all-important survey.Without a land survey home buyers cannot know the full extent and measurements of their title.
A land survey be made a compulsory part of every real estate transaction.A clause to that effect should be a part of the standard form agreement of purchase and sale, or at the very least added to every contract as part of a schedule.
In lay terms, a land survey shows:
1. The size of a parcel of land
2. Its location relative to nearby lands, roads, or geographical
features
3. The location of public and private improvements such as
buildings, pools and fences, relative to the property boundaries,
and
4. The physical features of the property.
Title insurance, as valuable as it is, is no substitute for knowing that the homeowners have valid title to all the land underneath the house, that they own the driveway, and that a utility easement is not running beneath the living room.
In 2002, the law firm Miller Thomson prepared a report for the Alberta Land Surveyor’s Association. It concluded, “Using title insurance as a replacement for a (survey) would be like purchasing theft insurance and then leaving the car door unlocked with the keys under the floor mat. Your car may not be stolen, but you increase the likelihood by acting in a careless manner.”
Sellers often tell their agents that they do not have a survey, when in fact they received one at the time of their purchase. Although using an old survey entails some risk since it is not current, many historical surveys are available online for a modest fee fromwww.landsurveyrecords.com . I think it’s fair to say that a land survey exists for every home built in Ontario in the last 30 or more years, and I have often seen century-old surveys showing the same house that is standing today.
A land survey be made a compulsory part of every real estate transaction.A clause to that effect should be a part of the standard form agreement of purchase and sale, or at the very least added to every contract as part of a schedule.
In lay terms, a land survey shows:
1. The size of a parcel of land
2. Its location relative to nearby lands, roads, or geographical
features
3. The location of public and private improvements such as
buildings, pools and fences, relative to the property boundaries,
and
4. The physical features of the property.
Title insurance, as valuable as it is, is no substitute for knowing that the homeowners have valid title to all the land underneath the house, that they own the driveway, and that a utility easement is not running beneath the living room.
In 2002, the law firm Miller Thomson prepared a report for the Alberta Land Surveyor’s Association. It concluded, “Using title insurance as a replacement for a (survey) would be like purchasing theft insurance and then leaving the car door unlocked with the keys under the floor mat. Your car may not be stolen, but you increase the likelihood by acting in a careless manner.”
Sellers often tell their agents that they do not have a survey, when in fact they received one at the time of their purchase. Although using an old survey entails some risk since it is not current, many historical surveys are available online for a modest fee fromwww.landsurveyrecords.com . I think it’s fair to say that a land survey exists for every home built in Ontario in the last 30 or more years, and I have often seen century-old surveys showing the same house that is standing today.
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