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Reconnaissance:

The Art of Retracement and

the Surveyor’s Role

By Gary Kent, PS

Traditionally, and almost universally, professional surveyors have Before we explore those sources, however, we first need to
been taught to survey the written title and to direct their client consider why the average property owner hires a surveyor.
to seek the advice of an attorney for guidance regarding any Is it to learn where their written title lines are? Or do they
potential title or boundary conflicts. Likewise, surveyors have – really want to simply know what they own? Most surveyors
virtually across-the-board – shied away from giving opinions as will agree that it is most assuredly the latter. The problem lies
to ownership where there are conflicts, other than possibly with in the fact that while surveyors know that clients think we are
regard to junior/senior rights. There are, however, a number of telling them what they own, we also know that’s not what we
authoritative sources that would tell surveyors otherwise. are doing. But seldom do surveyors explain the difference
between written title and ownership in a way that will help
their clients understand that difference.

An underlying problem is that the average property owner
equates their deed, and surveyor’s markers on the ground, with
ownership. How many of you have set a monument 6 feet over
a fence and had the client ask, “You mean I own 6 feet on the
other side of the fence?!” And when you explain to them that you
are not telling them what they own – you are merely marking
where their deed line is – they are left completely baffled
because they think ownership and their deed are one and the
same. At best the client will later tell her affected neighbor that
he needs to move his fence back 7 feet. And we know the
worst thing that will happen – the client tears the fence
down before her neighbor even returns from
work that day. The ensuing litigation will
engulf both neighbors for years.
How can surveyors help clients and
neighbors avoid costly mistakes and the
angst of litigation?
If you are wedded to the idea of simply surveying
the written title, one very simple thing to do is to
make absolutely certain that the client understands
what you are doing and what you are not doing
when you perform a boundary survey. They need to
understand that there is frequently a difference between
what their deed says and what they actually own; and how
and why that can happen. Surveyors must be confidently
knowledgeable about, for example, acquiescence, adverse
possession, and practical location – how they operate, what
the requirements are, and how ownership can move from the
written title line to a line of possession or occupation.

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EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 57 • NO 1/ 2021 • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 9