Are you wondering how property lines work? Maybe you are trying to determine precisely where your property lines are located. You’re not alone if you nod yes to these questions.
Understanding how to find property lines is vital, especially after buying a home.
Lots of folks try to research how to find their lot lines. The most common problems regarding property boundaries are fences a neighbor wants to construct.
When fences are built between properties, where exactly is the right place to construct them? Getting house boundary locations wrong can lead to an unpleasant dispute between neighbors. It can quickly become a legal issue where the costs begin to mount.
The positioning of fences between homes will typically come down to where the property boundaries are located. Knowing where the property line is will be crucial if you want to put up barriers, and it can even be an issue if there are already fences on your property.
Perhaps your neighbor plans to put something near the suspected border. Either way, knowing where the property boundary is located is essential.
We’ll be taking an in-depth look at how to find your property lines so that you don’t find yourself in an unnecessary neighbor dispute.
Defining Property Lines and House Boundaries
Your lot lines represent the legally designated borders of your property, serving as a precise demarcation of ownership. In simplest terms, property lines are where your right of the land starts and finishes.
You can establish them through visible features such as roads, markers, or fences, but they may also remain imperceptible. Learning about your boundary lines is essential to purchasing a house and maintaining homeownership.
These boundaries will have been used when your home was constructed and will continue to be necessary when additions have been made to your property.
Understanding boundary lines can be crucial when adding fences, swimming pools, and additions.
The front line is your frontage or the length of the land you own in front of your house.
The boundaries on the side of your residence are known as sidelines. Local zoning laws often dictate these distances.
For example, you may live in an area where you must have 150 feet of frontage. A minimum of frontage is required for the land to be considered a building lot. There are also what’s known as sideline setbacks, where a permanent structure cannot be built.
So, if you want to build a garage addition on your land, you must meet the sideline property line distance requirement. Zoning laws also have land square footage requirements. For example, you might need an acre of land to build a home if local zoning requires it.
Crucial Facts to Know
1. Property lines define the legal boundaries of a piece of land or property.
2. Finding your dividing lines is essential for various reasons, such as avoiding boundary disputes with neighbors and ensuring appropriate land use.
3. One of the simplest ways to find your property lines is by referring to your property deed, which typically includes a description of the boundary measurements.
4. Hiring a professional surveyor can provide accurate and official information about your dividing lines.
5. Physical markers, like metal stakes or wooden posts, may have been placed along the boundaries by previous surveyors or property owners to indicate the lines.
6. Consulting with neighboring property owners can sometimes provide valuable insights into shared boundary lines.
7. Using GPS technology combined with online mapping tools can help you get an approximate idea of where your property lines might be located.
8. Researching local land records and historical maps can offer additional property line information about boundaries.
9. In some cases, aerial imagery obtained through satellite imaging or drone photography may help identify potential boundary features.
10. Remember that properly determining your exact property lines may require professional assistance, particularly if you encounter challenges or legal disputes related to your land boundaries.
Zoning Laws Matter
If you value your privacy, you may not want your neighbor building right up the property line. Zoning laws are put in place for a reason, and this is one of them.
Understanding where the property boundary is located helps you avoid disputes or issues that can make living in your home less pleasant.
It will ensure you don’t infringe on your neighbor’s property by mistake or compromise their privacy. Another potential issue from not understanding where the house boundary lines are could be the title company refusing insurance.
How Property Lines Are Marked
When developers construct homes, they typically have the property lines marked.
How they are marked can vary. The boundary is usually done in one of a few different ways, including:
- Wooden stakes
- Concrete markers
- Metal markers
Over time, these markers tend to disappear, which can cause homeowners to wonder where the dividing lines are located.
As a property owner, you can have your landmarks identified if this becomes important to you. We will be getting into this momentarily.
How to Find Property Lines For Your Home
Fortunately, there are a few ways to learn where the property line is for your home. Some of these will be easy and cost you nothing, but that isn’t always true.
The lines are public records, but that doesn’t mean they are easy to locate unless you’re a land engineer.
There are several ways to determine them.
Let’s look at the standard methods of determining them.
Finding Markers
The property boundary markers might still be present if your home is relatively new. There could still be stakes in the ground when the lots were initially divided before your home was constructed.
If you walk along where you believe your dividing lines to be, you could still find these stakes either slightly above or flush with the ground.
You could also find concrete boundary markers that tend to be more accurate, as stakes are more easily moved.
The use of metal survey pins is also possible as well. If you suspect metal pins were used, you should be able to find them with a metal detector.
These property pins are thin iron or steel bars and sometimes have plastic caps. These kinds of property markers are usually 2-3 feet long.
Checking the Maps at The Local Zoning Department
Head into the town hall in your municipality to learn the size and measurement of your yard and the corners of a property. If you purchase a home, you can understand your ownership rights.
County records should have the data on the neighborhood and plats. If you have the parcel number, the county assessor can locate your information on the plat maps. A property line map could show your lot’s boundaries and other details like elevation, structures, and water features.
The plat map is often included with your property’s documentation in the assessor’s office. It might also be found online in some counties. It is typically as easy as making an appointment to see maps.
A local clerk should be able to help as more than a few folks will try to locate their legal boundary. If you can’t get hold of the plat for your property, you might be able to find them for neighboring homes.
Checking the Property Deeds
Dig out the copy of your deed and look at the deed’s description. It will be a good reference point to start with.
The deed to the house should give you another way to find your home’s boundary. It should contain a legal description of your boundary line, though the older your home is, the less likely this will be helpful.
However, since the features in a property deed may have changed or been removed, it might not help you locate them.
Have Your House Boundaries Surveyed
The most accurate way to find your home’s property lines is to get a land survey done by a professional land surveyor.
If checking the previous options hasn’t led to you learning enough or anything about them, a survey might be your best option.
From years of experience as a Realtor, hiring land surveyors is the best measurement method.
A survey certainly won’t be the cheapest option. The average cost for a property line survey is around $500 for a quarter of an acre lot. The cost of a land survey is worth it when you need pinpoint accuracy.
Choosing this option will mean hiring a local licensed land surveyor to measure where your land begins and ends accurately.
The surveyor will also do some research, checking the records to understand the history of the lot. They will find out about subdivisions, easements, and other important factors relating to your land.
Land surveyor pins will be installed, demarking the lot line locations. Utilizing professional survey markers is one of the best techniques, especially when encroachments are involved.
Lenders Require Mortgage Plot Plans
New surveys are typically carried out when a mortgage lender is involved in purchasing a home, so you might be able to find details of this in your property’s documentation. These are what’s referred to as a mortgage plot plan.
When real estate agents market homes, they typically ask the seller for the mortgage plot plan to give buyers an understanding of their locations.
When getting a land loan or construction loan from a bank or other lending institution, they will require a land survey as they will want to know the exact dividing lines to grant a mortgage.
Mortgage lenders will hire a licensed surveyor to create a new survey.
Finding Your Property Lines Online
Many people wonder how to find property boundaries online. It could be the best way to find your property line for free when you can’t enter city hall.
If you check the county or assessor’s website, you might find that they provide you with local maps. Failing that, you could also try searching for geographical information system maps.
These GIS maps can be searched for using Google, and you might also find other maps that give you a good idea of where your boundaries lie if you do some research.
Looking at maps online may give you a general idea of where they are, but they should not be used to pinpoint an exact location.
Use Google Earth
One of the more simple ways to find house boundaries is with Google Earth. You can look at the maps by visiting Google Maps. At the top of the screen, you will see a search bar where you’ll enter your home’s address.
What you will first see is a standard GPS grid. Click on the “layers” button, and you’ll be taken to a satellite view. There will be a red pin to center your property. If you click the plus button in the lower right corner, it will zoom into your property.
When Google has the information, you should be able to see your property boundaries via GPS coordinates.
Utilize APPS
Now and then, a techy will ask me if there is an app to find property lines. Believe it or not, there are apps you can use to pinpoint house boundaries!
Besides Google Maps, other GPS apps will provide the info. The apps, however, will not give you anywhere near the accuracy that a property surveyor would. These apps should only be used for ballpark estimates of your boundary locations.
These mapping tools are another way of finding the lines online in a pinch.
- Landgrid App – the Landgrid app allows you to view properties throughout the US. It has a function that will enable you to create your survey. Some surveys can be accessed with a paid subscription.
- LandGlide app – the LanGlide app provides GPS technology to locate your property. It has parcel records for about 95 percent of the US.
- Property Survey GPS – like the other property line apps, The Property Survey GPS app allows users to locate property lines. The app explores your property, helping to provide estimated land markers.
Never Rely on a Real Estate Agent
One of the golden rules in real estate is not to answer them when someone asks an agent where the property line is located. Unless, of course, you don’t mind getting sued.
A real estate agent has no idea where the lines are located unless they have engineered the property themselves (fat chance).
A real estate agent would rely on a third party to tell them where they are located. Who knows if that party is wrong?
As a buyer, you should never accept a real estate agent’s answer of where the boundaries are located to be accurate. If you are a real estate agent reading this, then smarten up! Never show someone where you suspect the dividers are located.
Are Your Neighbors Allowed to Build Fences on the Property Line?
You must understand the rules if you have a neighbor who plans to construct a fence on the dividing line between your two properties.
Specific local regulations or laws guide how a fence should be constructed concerning the property boundary.
There could also be some restrictions about building on the lines in your home or your neighbor’s deeds.
Standard rules might suggest that any fence is built more than a few inches from a neighbor’s boundary, but restrictions could require a greater distance.
If a fence is built directly on the line, it could mean that the responsibility will be between both homeowners. This can lead to many problems when maintenance needs to be performed on the fence or requires replacement.
What Happens With Encroachment?
When buying and selling homes, there are times when the encroachment of lot lines is discovered. This means the neighbor has built a structure that violates local zoning laws. One of the more common examples is when a neighbor constructs a fence onto the neighbor’s property.
There are a few things to consider when you discover an encroachment. If a neighbor has built something onto your lot and something terrible, such as an injury, happens in that structure, you could be partially liable and have a claim against your home insurance.
You might pay higher insurance premiums even if there was never a claim.
It is also vital to consider the property’s resale value when selling. You may be okay with the situation now, but what if future buyers don’t feel the same way? Typically, in cases like this, it will cause title insurance to be more expensive.
What Can You Do About Disputes With Neighbors?
A problem with a neighbor is not that unusual. A dispute is relatively common. Property line issues can happen in several different ways. Sometimes, incorrect assumptions are made about where a boundary line exists. Other times, a deed description might not be accurate.
There are also cases where one neighbor has been using a portion of land for a long time and claims ownership by adverse possession. How to resolve disputes boils down to the situation.
Most of the time, it is better to work out the arguement amicably with your neighbor. Legal battles over minor lot line issues can become very costly. The easiest way to settle is to prove to your neighbor by a professional survey that their assumptions about the location are incorrect.
If this doesn’t work and the neighbor won’t cooperate, your last resort may include offering to divide the property at issue or requesting some form of monetary compensation.
Going to court over a minor issue could cost far more money than the amount of land it is worth.
Can Property Lines Be Moved?
Lines can be moved in some circumstances; in others, they can’t. To move a property line, you must confirm according to local zoning laws.
For example, you could not change a lot line to reduce your land below the required square footage requirement or remove the minimum amount of square footage for a legal lot.
If you conform to zoning laws, a boundary change is possible.
Why Would You Change a Property Line?
There could be any number of reasons why you would agree to changes. There could be an opportunity to create an additional lot by moving the boundary line.
Your neighbor may need a certain amount of land to do an addition. You might want to have more privacy. There could be an encroachment by the neighbor that is stopping the sale of a home.
Typically, when lines are changed for the benefit of one party, there is some form of monetary compensation.
Why is it Important to Know How to Find Your Property Boundaries?
As you can see, property lines become far more critical when buying or selling a home. You need to know precisely where the dividing lines are for any major projects, such as adding a new fence, a garage, a pool, a driveway, irrigation systems, or another structure.
Other home improvements, such as installing a septic system, must also be far from the property line.
It is easy to see why lenders require having a mortgage plot plan done when financing a home.
Interesting Statistics
1. Approximately 83% of homeowners are unsure where their property corners are located.
2. Surveyors estimate that 1 in 4 property owners have at least one inaccurate boundary line.
3. On average, it takes property owners over eight months to discover a property bounds dispute with their neighbors.
4. A recent study found that only 37% of homeowners have ever had a professional survey conducted to determine their lot lines.
5. Over 90% of property disputes could be avoided if homeowners proactively verified and marked their boundaries.
6. According to real estate experts, the cost to legally resolve a dispute can range from $10,000 to $30,000 on average.
7. It is estimated that 65% of property owners mistakenly believe that fences or landscaping accurately mark their lines.
8. Research shows that using modern technologies, such as GPS and aerial photography, can increase the accuracy of property dimensions by up to 92%.
9. Surveys indicate that nearly 80% of disagreements between neighbors stem from issues related to unclear or disputed dividing lines.
10. Homeowners who invest in professional land surveys report an average increase in property value of approximately 5%.
FAQs
Where can I get a copy of my land survey?
To obtain a copy of your survey, you can start by contacting your local municipality’s land records office. They typically keep records of all surveys conducted within their jurisdiction.
Alternatively, you can reach out to the surveyors who originally conducted the survey for your property. They may have a copy on file or be able to provide you with a digital version.
If neither of these options is available, you can try searching online databases that specialize in property records and surveys. These platforms often have extensive archives and may offer the option to purchase a copy of your land survey for a nominal fee.
How do I locate my property pins?
Locating property pins can be a bit challenging, but with the right approach, it can be done. Start by researching your property’s legal description and obtaining a copy of the survey map from the county or city land records office.
Next, equip yourself with a high-precision GPS device that can accurately pinpoint coordinates. Begin at a known reference point on your property, such as a corner of your house. Use the GPS device to navigate along the perimeter of your property while recording coordinates.
As you move along, keep an eye out for any physical markers like iron rods or concrete monuments that may indicate the location of property pins. By cross-referencing the recorded coordinates with the survey map and physical markers, you can confidently identify your property pins.
What are the common signs of a boundary marker?
Common signs of a property boundary marker can vary depending on the region and local regulations. However, there are a few indicators that are typically used.
One common sign is the presence of surveyor’s stakes or iron rods placed at regular intervals along the boundary edge. These markers are usually driven into the ground and may be accompanied by small flags or ribbons for visibility.
Another sign to look out for is a change in landscaping or vegetation, such as a sudden shift in the type of plants or trees present, which could indicate a change in ownership.
Additionally, some property boundaries may be marked by physical structures like fences, walls, or even natural features like rivers or streams.
Can I use a metal dector to discover the dividing lines?
Absolutely! Using a metal detector can be a great tool to help you locate your lines. While it may not directly detect the exact boundaries, it can certainly assist in identifying any buried markers or survey pins that were placed during the initial survey.
These markers are often made of metal and can be detected by a sensitive metal detector. By carefully scanning the perimeter of your land, you may be able to pick up on these markers, giving you a general idea of where your lines are located.
However, it’s important to note that this method should be used as a supplementary tool and not relied upon as the sole means of determining your boundaries.
What should I do if there is a disagreement over the boundaries with a neighbor?
If you find yourself in a dispute over your land with a neighbor, there are several steps you can take to resolve the issue. Consult your property deed and any relevant surveys or documents that may indicate the exact boundaries of your property.
If these documents do not provide a clear answer, it is advisable to hire a professional land surveyor for an accurate determination. Once you have obtained this information, engage in open and respectful communication with your neighbor to discuss the matter.
Present the evidence you have gathered. If an agreement cannot be reached amicably, consider involving a mediator or seeking legal advice to find a resolution.
What are the legal implications of encroaching on a neighbor?
When encroaching on a neighbor’s land, there are several crucial legal implications to consider. It is essential to understand that property boundaries are legally defined and protected.
Any encroachment can potentially lead to a dispute or legal action. In most jurisdictions, the affected neighbor has the right to request the removal of the encroachment or seek compensation for any damages caused.
Moreover, trespassing laws may come into play if the encroachment involves unauthorized access to the neighbor’s land. To avoid these legal complications, it is crucial to accurately determine your property lines and respect your neighbor’s boundaries.
Final Thoughts
There might be more options than you initially imagined when finding your property lines. You might be able to avoid getting an expensive property line survey when you need to define your home’s boundaries clearly.
Even if you think you fully understand where your boundary lines are, checking the official documentation might surprise you.
For this reason, you must ensure you are very clear on where the boundaries lie before constructing a fence or doing anything that coulinfringeially encroach on your neighbor’s property. If you get it wrong, this will save you from expensive legal costs, and you could find out these details through a simple online search.
Hopefully, you have enjoyed this guide on finding your lot lines and can put it to good use.
About the Author: The above Real Estate information on how to find property lines was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill has expertise in mortgages, financing, moving, home improvement, and general real estate.
Learn more about Bill Gassett and the publications he has been featured in. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-625-0191. Bill has helped people move in and out of Metrowest towns for the last 37+ years.
Are you thinking of selling your home? I am passionate about real estate and love sharing my marketing expertise!
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Every homeowner should know where their property boundaries are. It’s also a good idea to have an understanding of the setbacks in their area. It will prevent lots of potential costly headaches in the future.
Agreed Gabe. Understanding how to find your property lines is important when you first move to a new home.