Erred survey?

[Murrini]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

My neighbor had a survey done on our mutual boundary after thinking one of the corners was wrong, the survey proved my corner correct but the line between the two corners has now been marked as a curve instead of the straight line indicated by both the map and wording of my deed. I have not seen the survey to see if it is a "legal" survey, but am pretty sure it is incorrect. There are wood stakes, metal stakes, ribbons tied to trees and limbs, and trees are spray painted, but they are definately not in a straight line. Can he immediately enforce the line change or do I have the right to demand to see the survey to determine if it was even a legal survey and then be allowed to contest it or do I have to get my own survey? Also did the surveyor have the right to come onto my property which has a locked gate and well posted with no trespassing signs? I told the neighbor to leave my property and not return 2 weeks ago, but have pictures of him, the surveyor and others clearly on my property (even beyond what would be reasonable for the survey) from this weekend from a trail camera I had overlooking the gate.
Thank You

 

[NC Aggie]

You should definitely hire your own surveyor to perform a boundary survey if you have any doubts about your neighbor's survey. You do not have the right to see his personal survey unless it is filed into public records or presented as evidence in a court of law. And are you certain that the "marked" property line is in fact an arc (curved) line? Some or all the markers the survey put in the field may be offsets. If the surveyor confirmed the corners, then the only way that the property line would be curved is if an arc is described in the legal description. It wouldn't surprise me to see a curved property boundary along roadway frontage, but rarely do you find curved boundaries along common side or rear boundaries unless it's following a natural boundary of some kind. So you need to confirm what is actually marked. Additionally, if your neighbor's surveyor is indicating that the boundary is in fact curved, don't atuomatically conclude it's errored because he may using different information and records than you have. Even though a curve boundary may not be described on your deed or indicated on your map, there's always the possibility that a curved boundary was conveyed between the properties at some point prior to your ownership. That's why I would recommend having your own survey performed but make sure your surveyor researches the property records. If you just give him/her your deed and the survey map, that's what he's going to stake. However if there's a discrepency in the legal description, he/she needs to research property records.

I think the other issues you've brought up regarding trespassing are really secondary and will not help you in any way in resolving this boundary dispute.

 

[Murrini]

Thank you very much for your help!! We are contacting a surveyor to come out. I'm pretty sure there are no changes to the lines as stated in the deed as I just bought the property 3 months ago and all the research was just done on the title then for the insurance, Plus these pieces of land have been in my Boyfriends family for over 100 years with very little change in ownership, everyone knows what is going on with each piece of land, except this neighbor who is a relative newcomer to the situation. The good neighbors (my BFs family) used to own the piece the hostile neighbor is now on, made the lot line adjustments and sold the property to him, so I'm pretty sure they know where the line should be. Inf act they used to own most of the land in this valley.

My last question for now is where he is blocking access across a road that was well understood to be on our good neighbor's land until he had it surveyed, which the family agrees is wrong as they know the lines as intended from when it was sold to him. Can he suddenly block our access while this is contested as this is currently the main road to my property? I'm pretty sure there is nothing in any of their deeds about this road as it is an old logging road, I know there is nothing in mine where it crosses my property and the current verbal deal that has been in place between them since he bought the property from them was that he may use that road (part of which he is now claiming) in exchange for them using and accessing the spring on his property. (He had been an EXCELLENT neighbor until 2 weeks ago...)

Thank you again very much for your help and sorry if this is horribly confusing!

 

[NC Aggie]

My last question for now is where he is blocking access across a road that was well understood to be on our good neighbor's land until he had it surveyed, which the family agrees is wrong as they know the lines as intended from when it was sold to him. Can he suddenly block our access while this is contested as this is currently the main road to my property? I'm pretty sure there is nothing in any of their deeds about this road as it is an old logging road, I know there is nothing in mine where it crosses my property and the current verbal deal that has been in place between them since he bought the property from them was that he may use that road (part of which he is now claiming) in exchange for them using and accessing the spring on his property. (He had been an EXCELLENT neighbor until 2 weeks ago...)

Thank you again very much for your help and sorry if this is horribly confusing!

If I understand you correctly, it sounds like an easement of some kind, either expressed or implied, exists for ingress/egress purposes and if that's the case, he cannot block this access regardless of who owns the land or while it's in dispute. If he continues to block access, you may consider contacting your county's sheriff's department.

 

[Terminus]

A curved Boundary line

To have a curved boundary line not adjacent to a roadway is VERY uncommon....It does happen but very rarely. What you are seeing could be an optical illusion caused by the terrain the line crosses (is it hilly or sloping as this will cause the illusion) or it could also just be a general line marking. As you noted there was also trees marked, etc.....A rule I learned as a young survey is that the boundary is a straight line between monuments. Stakes, flags, etc are an approximate location of this line between the two monuments...now I talk approximate being an inch or two....but that is still the approximate boundary.