![]() Unfortunately, this type of legal description is notoriously difficult to comprehend unless you’re a surveyor. If your deed features a metes and bounds survey-a survey that describes the exact distances and directions from one established point on your property line to the next-you’ll have all the information you need to find property lines. If you don’t have a copy of your deed filed with your homeowner records, get one at the register of deeds office, often located within your county courthouse. Locating a survey pin won’t give you this information, but the most recent legal description recorded on your deed will list any such changes. In older neighborhoods, property owners may have purchased or sold off portions of their yards. For example, if you locate survey pins 60 feet apart on opposite sides of your property but the plat says your lot is 50 feet wide, one of those pins may have been moved, and your property is still just 50 feet across. Your actual property line, however, does not change just because someone messed with the survey pin. Over the years, previous owners, utility workers, or even a tree-removal company may have dug up a survey pin and reinserted it nearby, or just tossed it aside. There’s no charge for this service, but if you damage a buried utility line, you could end up having to pay to repair it. Ask the utility company to come out and mark any buried lines so you don’t unintentionally hit one. A few days before you dig, however, you must call 811, the free, federally designated number that will route you to your local utility company. Pins may be buried just under the surface, or up to a foot below. ![]() If you have access to a metal detector, move the device over the ground along the sidewalk to the curb to locate the survey pin. Survey pins are thin iron bars, 2 or 3 feet long and sometimes capped with plastic, which the original survey crew inserted on the property lines. Your measurements should correspond with the ones on the plat. With a long measuring tape or digital tape measure, follow the plat as you would a treasure map, measuring your physical property as you go. The original surveyor’s measurements will all be listed on the plat. It is often the center point of a side street. You can retrace the original steps of the property lines survey by finding the starting point, which will be labeled on the plat as either the “common point” or the “point of beginning” (POB). When the surveyors were laying out the original plat, they determined a starting point for all the lots on your block. RELATED: Setback Requirements: 7 Things All Homeowners Should Know Retrace the Surveyor’s Steps This will give you the exact dimensions of your lot-in other words, the property you legally own-in relation to other lot lines on your block. Unless your home was built more than a hundred years ago, you can probably obtain a copy of your block and lot plat for a minimal fee. ![]() The zoning department is the municipal office that records plats: the maps, drawn to scale, that show land division. While these visual clues are good indications of property lines, if you intend to build or install something on your land, you’ll need additional verification. Streetlights, too, are often placed on property lines. As well, the appearance of the concrete on your side of the property may be slightly different from that on your neighbor’s side. ![]() Often, the contractor who poured the sidewalk started and stopped on the property lines, so those cut lines may coincide with the edges of your property. RELATED: Whose Responsibility Is it: Homeowner, Town, or Utility Company? Check Sidewalks and Street LightsĮxamine the lines that are cut in the sidewalk in front of your house. Homeowners are responsible for maintaining the lawn and yard on their property and most are not willing to let a neighbor use valuable lawn if it doesn’t belong to them. Guessing where the legal boundary is can result in having to tear down a shed or garage that’s too close to the property line. Not only is it essential to know where property lines are to keep from planting or building something on a neighbor’s property, but it’s also important to know that most lots come with setbacks that prohibit building within a few feet of a property line. Property lines are the legal boundaries of a given property, but unfortunately, they’re not always easy to find. What are Property Lines, and Why do They Matter? Read on to learn how to find property lines-and ensure that your house and landscaping stay on your side of it. Others demand skills and will cost a few bucks, but may be necessary for certain construction projects. Some are simple and inexpensive, adequate for satisfying your curiosity. Here, we’ve put together the most common methods for figuring this out.
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