Why You Need a Land Survey in Langley, BC
Owning a home is likely the biggest investment you’ll ever make. Protecting your investment with a current land survey is wise. Usually, surveys older than five or ten years are verging on out-of-date, but in the fast-changing Township of Langley, new property purchases should have a current land survey completed. But even existing homeowners should update land surveys every decade or so because you’d be surprised what you may learn about your property.
It seems like land changes over time; maybe people tinkered with the fences, or maybe Mother Nature played a hand. If changes have come to your land, you need to know to protect your interests. With the land prices today market, you want your money’s worth. Think of the price per square foot of land – what if your property extends further than you think?
Keep the Peace: Surveys & Neighbours
It’s not uncommon that a thoroughfare or fence infringes on a bordering property. In areas like Langley, where it seems like things change daily, oversights can happen. Those boundary infringements can translate to a loss of use of thousands in property value. Imagine a property’s fences infringe on the neighbours, leading you to believe your purchase includes land that’ll never be yours. In the long-term, those inches or feet matter. From land value to liability reasons, you ought to know your precise property boundaries.
As a homeowner, you have the right to improve your property, but a land survey ensures you’ll build within the legal boundaries. That goes two ways, should your neighbours alter their property in any way. Sometimes, neighbours cooperate on a land survey as part of a shared fencing project, ensuring property lines are respected as the fenceline goes up — and preventing the potential for a disagreement somewhere down the line.
Internet stories abound for land surveys solving neighbourly squabbles, such as “who really owns that oak tree?” and “say, are you sure that fence is on your property?”
Reasons You May Need a Survey
Typical scenarios where you’d want a land survey include new home construction, a building addition, or erecting new outbuildings. Perhaps you’d like to install a koi pond or you’ve dreamed of building an outdoor kitchen. These may require current land surveys, depending on municipal requirements.
If you’re scheming of a year abroad and want to subdivide land to pay for it, then a current survey offers prospective developers an idea of topography and barriers that may complicate any builds, while assisting in determining market value on the property should you decide not to proceed with a subdivision
Plan Your Future Better with a Survey
Here in the Township of Langley, it seems like the landscape has been altered dramatically through recent development, but climate patterns have played a role too. While a land survey is ideal for understanding your property and its boundaries, it can also help you plan for the future, too. Should you stay, or should you sell?
We think of real estate as a lifetime investment, but what promise does your land hold for 10 or 20 or more years down the line? The November 2021 floods highlighted how vulnerable some regions of the Fraser Valley are. The Province of British Columbia offers extensive floodplain maps on their website, but they’re all from 1987 to 1998. Are you comfortable making a retirement investment based on information that old? A land survey can’t predict once-a-millennium storms, but they can be utilized by environmental professionals to estimate a property’s likelihood for future floods.
Talk to us about what kind of survey can serve you best in the years ahead.