surveyor?

[kalimba21.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know of a local surveyor who can document the boundaries of a residential property?

The house next door is being upgraded and condo-ized, and they are going to put up a fence that I fear may go into my property or into the "right of way"beside my property. We're only talking about a couple of feet here, but in Somerville, every foot is precious.

I'd like to procure the information asap, before the fence is built.
Anyone know how much that sort of thing might cost?

Thanks !

Comments

[rmd.livejournal.com]

When I had a plot plan done for my property (before doing some major porch renovations), I had Bradford Engineering in Haverhill[1] do the work. However, if your neighbors are doing that large a level of renovation next door, the chances are very good that *they* already had to have a plot plan done and filed with the city as part of the permit process, so you might want to save yourself the money and check if there's documentation of the boundary already available.

[1] (Sorry, I don't have a confirmed phone number. Google finds a few listings that include a number for them but I don't know for sure if it's accurate so I'm not going to list it here.)

[molyflogs.livejournal.com]

^^^This, regarding the plot plan. BUT, if you disagree with their survey, you should absolutely pay for your own. If it differs, the surveyors will have to figure out who is right.

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

While I'm not a lawyer, nor pretend to be, I think if they build a fence on your property, they have to remove it at their expense. So it behooves them to ensure the fence is put in after they do a survey/plot plan. I recall reading about a house (not in Somerville) that was built with a wall like 6 inches over the property line, and down it had to go!

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

Any idea how you search online for permit records? I'm in cambridge, and trying to confirm that an additional bathroom that was added into the property was permitted, and hoping to find out online. if i have to, i can go to city hall to find out, of course, but it's easier if i don't have to take time off work. any ideas? a first run through the cambridge website was unhelpful...

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Talk to your agent. They should be able to get that stuff for you during the day.

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

Yes, as someone else said, if they're condo-izing they have to have had a survey done, so see if they'll share it with you. We had one done recently for our own condo-zing (by Medford Engineering -- *stay away* if you want it done in anything like a reasonable time frame); it cost $3000, but they were also doing interior plans.

[hikermtnbiker.livejournal.com]

A couple of years ago I contacted a few surveyors via Servicemagic to have a survey done but I never followed through. My recollection is that the quotes were for $1000-$1300.

Using another's survey would certainly save money but if you really want to protect your own interests you might want to hire your own.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Oh, to be clear, I was really happy with Bradford Engineering when I used them. I forget offhand how much it was, but it was less than $1000, definitely, for an exterior-only plot plan when I had it done 8 or so years ago.

[dahdahdahdancer.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest that you look around the edges of your property for boundary markers. On my property they look like pipes that were pounded into the ground so that the end sticks up. The inspector I hired when I first bought the property couldn't find them! I later found mine (I actually tripped over one of them) and painted them bright yellow to clarify for one nasty neighbor what was "his" and what was "mine." When I put up a fence (this is in S'ville), it had to be constructed six inches inside the property line, on my land, according to regs.

[tipper-green.livejournal.com]

Before you go crazy looking for the permit, and if you want to do a search tonight, you can start with the registry of deeds. They've both deed records and plan records online.

Here you go: http://www.masslandrecords.com/MiddlesexSouth/

Good bet, if there are no separate plans on record, is to look for plot plans attached to mortgages or notices. If they've mortgaged the condo, which they probably have in order to finance it, there should be plans at the registry. It's all public information.

[kalimba21.livejournal.com]

Thank you for all of the helpful information.
Some great pointers here.

I think I need my own survey because when I purchased the property 15 years ago, I was told there was an easement for train track access between my property and this property now being developed. I suppose I can't defend the easement, but it would be good to know for sure where everything sits.
I'm also curious to learn if the end of the dead end street is actually their parking spaces, which is how they have historically been used, or if it is considered part of our street. I'm hoping that a surveyor could clear all of this up, though, I recognize that the developer should be aware of these issues for his own protection. But couldn't he sell the end of our street as parking spaces, assuming nobody would contest it?

Just some random questions - I may be asking about lawyer recommendations up the road. But a surveyor is a good start.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_meej_/]

Cliff Rober of Rober Survey in Arlington (www.robersurvey.com) is professional and efficient - we use him fairly frequently around our Landscape Architecture practice.