The trouble with fences is people presume they’re in the right place. That’s a potentially expensive presumption to make, especially with land values at an all-time high. As land surveyors, one of our jobs to deduce what your correct fence line is. You’d be surprised how property lines seem to blur over time, especially when an area is under redevelopment. If your land hasn’t had a survey done in a decade, it’s time to get one – especially before you invest in building a fence.
Existing Fences Can Be Wrong
When there’s an existing fence, don’t assume that it’s an accurate record of the property line. Solving property disputes between landowners makes steady work for land surveyors, especially since property markers seem to wander sometimes.
Given how often we’ve seen fences be a few inches, or even feet, away from the actual property line, it’s unwise to presume a fence is accurate and simply replace it. While they may have been placed with knowledge of the actual location of the original boundary posts, many fences have been placed with little more than guess-work on the actual boundary location. The internet is filled with tales of property line debacles, like one infamous Reddit thread telling of a neighbourly dispute that revealed a wrongly placed fence had given 11 feet of property to the neighbours for decades. While that’s an extreme example, it does show that a simple land survey can result in big discoveries that best made sooner than later. One of our recent surveys in Langley found a fence line was 33 feet into the neighbour’s property!
Fences: Not How They Seem
In the age of information at our fingertips, it’s tempting to look up your property in the City or Township of Langley’s databases and take them as fact. Online, it’ll likely seem as though your fence is over the property line. The trouble is those online documents can’t be relied upon as factual evidence for anyone’s property boundaries. They’re approximations; data and images compiled for demonstration purposes and do not represent legal boundaries.
As land surveyors, we re-establish property lines through using a variety of tools and documentation, under parameters set by the Association of British Columbia Land Surveyors and by Statute. Part of our property survey process is to refer to historical survey evidence and documents, along with our observations made through site visits, for services that can include property-line staking or posting plans.
But Do I Need a Posting Plan?
Until the 1960s, properties didn’t need permanent survey posts. Wood was the post of choice until then, and they often can’t be found today. Depending on when your property was last surveyed, a posting plan may be needed under Section 68 of the Land Title Act. That section requires a surveyor to file a posting plan if they define any angles on a parcel of land.
If surveyors do uncover original boundary posts during their survey, filing a posting plan may be optional. So, do you need to file a posting plan? The land surveyor will help determine that.
Where Should a New Fence Go?
Locating a new fence may seem simple now, especially if you have an agreeable neighbour. But, as years pass and neighbours change, a fence erected over a handshake can become problematic.
In a perfect world, a fence should be a shared burden between two properties, and built on the property line, using land equally between each parcel. The landowners would share both the cost of the survey as well as installation and maintenance of the fence.
Of course, it’s far from a perfect world. Neighbours will frequently not share the financial cost of a survey or building the fence. In these cases, it’s best to locate your fence entirely on your side of the property, but you may cede an inch or more of your land to your neighbour’s use. As you can imagine, that may complicate matters if or when your neighbour sells their property, so it’s something to ensure you’ve documented well — which is where we can help.
Wherever it goes, a fence’s ideal location much more easily solved once you’ve had a land survey completed. We’re ready when you are!