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Definition

A boundary survey is a licensed surveyor's determination of where a parcel's lines actually run on the ground, built from the recorded description and from monuments found and set. In Florida the work follows minimum technical standards that set what must be researched, what must be shown, and what must be monumented. The drawing it produces is the document every other spatial question depends on.

In one drawing
2'-4"50'-0"150'-0"Owned, unusable, 345 SFNeighbour's fenceStreet
Figure 1 · A fence 2.3' inside the line, for the full depth · Mevak Real Estate
How to read it
How to read it
  • Order it early. It is cheap against the decisions it governs, and it is the one document that can move a closing date late.
  • It is not an appraisal, a flood determination or a code review. It answers where the lines are, and that is all it answers.
  • Encroachments end three ways: a lot line agreement, a claim, or a price adjustment. All three take time, so find them inside the inspection period.
  • A survey older than the last construction on the block is a historical document. Re-order rather than trusting a drawing from a prior sale.
An example
An example

The same 50 by 150 lot. The survey finds the neighbour's fence 2.3 feet inside the side line, for the full depth.

Recorded lot area7,500 SF
Strip held by the neighbour, 2.3 x 150345 SF
Buildable width assumed, 50 - 5 - 540 ft
Land owned and not usable today345 SF

Nothing about the deed changed. What changed is that the problem now has a number, and a number is what a price adjustment is made of.

Where to read it

The minimum technical standards a Florida surveyor works to, including what a boundary survey must research, show and monument: Chapter 5J-17, Florida Administrative Code

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