Surveyer question about property lines

Neighbor had their yard surveyed last year and they had two metal post put in the ground. One out front of the property and one half way up the front yard. We are looking to install at fence and can not find any in the very back of our yard. Not sure if one was taken out years ago or not. Would there have been any put in the back yard if theirs was done last year??

Generally they have some kind of marker at both ends. Call the surveyor and ask about it.

I do not know the surveryor that did the job. Is there any record somewhere of the new survey?

Jess,

If you don't want to ask your neighbor, call your local tax office and see if they have the plat maps online. If you know your lot number (usually on your tax bills or on your deed or closing papers), you can look the maps up to see where the boundaries are.

If you were lucky your closing papers may have a hard copy plat map which will show you the boundaries and also make note of what was used as a marker, like a piece of iron stake or a marked rock. Also, if you have trees on the edges of your property, there will be 3 slashes in the bark or a piece of colored plastic ribbon marking the corners and 2 slashes for boundaries.

Here when you buy a property by law you need to hire a surveyor to establish things like boundary lines, where any drain lines are and IF shared by any other properties, it states who is responsible or what share you have for maintaining such.

A legal PROPER copy goes to the bank where you have asked for the loan to pay for the property (Called Title Deeds) these papers remain there until the loan is repaid in full, maybe 20 years later before loan is paid, depending or repayment agreement. your Legal adviser (lawyer will also have a copy, this is to ensure IF anything were to happen to you, then family / next of kin can sort out all your assets.

Someone, somewhere must have a copy of your plot size with do's and don't written in legal jargon but maybe held in bank, IF you had to borrow for the cost of house, they maybe in lawyers office IF you had to write a will, they may be held somewhere else for safe keeping, even IF they were placed in your care for safe keeping, these papers MUST be somewhere and will be needed as proof of ownership IF you ever wish to sell the property and are of vital importance to yourself and your next of kin should you befall any accident or fatal accident.

These papers should give every detail of what you purchased along with the actual buildings on the plot.
Get hold of them and you should be able to find what is yours and what is the neighbours, this could lead to expensive legal arguments later IF you think the neighbours are encroaching into your land / yard and start to build fences, plant tree's or send run off water careering into your plot flooding you out.
Better finding your boundaries now that this situation has arisen than wait till your panicked into searching for the proper info as lawyers charge you by the hour / letter / of day.

Good luck and best Regards.
WeeNel.

Here in CA these records are kept in each county, and are accessible on line. You can probably research your property lines and set backs in the county records. The site I use is local to my county, but is part of a US wide system. You could do some research to find your local version.
http://www.ccmap.us/interactive_maps.aspx

Again, here in CA, records are kept by the county tax assessor. These are the plot maps for the whole county, and have all the information about your property lines. Which direction they run, and for how far. Whole neighborhoods are laid out with notes about what sort of central mark is used to locate each piece of property.

I would assume one of the surveyor's marks is the front corner of the dividing line between your properties. When you find your records measure from that spot along a line that includes the other spot for the distance stated. If it comes out anywhere near what you think is right, it probably is right.

You could also look around for what are called Bench Marks. These can be a metal disc with some letters and numbers on it. Often a piece of pipe driven securely into the ground with a special kind of cap. The marks put there by the surveyor are one form of bench mark. If it is a formal benchmark by the surveyor it will have these letters and numbers on the cap and these can be used to find out who did the survey.

Look for these where you think the property corners are. Google Surveyor Benchmark and go to images. These are anywhere from an inch in diameter to about 6". The 1" size are most common around residential property. The larger ones are often set in concrete.

Here's the online location for Montgomery County: http://propertyrecords.montcopa.org/arcgismaps/arcgismapadvanced.aspx

You may have to play around with it but I used it a lot when I lived in Oxford, PA and found it very handy!

Spoke with the fence guy he said if possible maybe one was not put in cause their shed is over on my yard, He said take a look on their shed for any marks. i found this mark but not sure its a surveyer mark.

You'd have to call the surveyor to be sure it's his mark.

In this town we have mandatory setbacks for any type of outbuilding, like a shed. You might want to inquire about it regarding the neighbor's shed. It may end up requiring a lawyer. Even if you don't mind his shed being on your property, the day may come when you want to sell and then it could be an issue. Better safe than sorry.

If the shed is on your property and has been there for a certain number of years, they may not have to give up the portion that belongs to you. I forget what it's called, not squatters rights but something close to it.

A lawyer could give the best advice. The property doesn't automatically become your neighbor's if he's had his shed on it. To become his he'd also have to be paying the taxes on that piece of property.

I agree with the advice of asking a lawyer for his two pence worth of rights and wrongs re boundaries and where you stand.

Everyone can only guess the problems that MAY show up further down the line BUT the one about you selling up is definitely one to hand. (my son and daughter-in-law have just had such a dispute while placing an offer on a house, the surveyor on behalf of the lender of the funds(bank) found there had been an extension built without planning permit's and it took a whole lot longer to try fix out, my Son ended up withdrawing his offer and had to move onto another property they liked as a baby was due and they also did NOT want any historical planning problems going on between the seller and their neighbour.

It can be costly IF you don't get the right advice AND also remember, A lawyer would normally NOT charge for a first explanatory consultation, it will only be a financial cost IF the advice is to take matters further BUT, you still have to ask the experts advice first of all.
Perhaps a friendly planning consultant at the local office would be the best place to start.
I always go along the lines of, be nice, make sure you have your questions / pictures or whatever to hand, act daft as most men in suites in an office just love to think a dumb woman is needing info and you find they will normally go above and beyond there normal remit.

IF your a man Pirl, forgive but still act daft, make sure you have a pencil / paper to hand also. Once you have gained all the info you need to hand, then you invent a brain transplant or something like that LOL, and all of a sudden know what your talking about, easy as pie.
Joking aside, hope everything goes OK for you, the majority of people on your thread are telling you to fix the problem now rather than wait till the whole thing becomes a huge issue.

Best of luck and kindest Regards.
WeeNel.

Just wanted to agree with these folks here that you should take care of it sooner than later. We were about to place an offer on a house that ended up having "encroachment" issues, because the neighbor had installed a gate to their driveway that went onto the property. Our Realtor recommended not getting into that potential mess, and we backed out on the deal. You don't want you (or your heirs) to lose out on potential offers like ours or home value because of the issue.