Property ownership involves more than what you can see on the ground.
A fence may appear to divide two properties. A driveway may cross part of a neighboring parcel. Utility facilities may occupy a strip of land. A recorded easement may allow access through a portion of a property even though nothing obvious marks it in the field.
When questions arise about property lines, easements, and possible encroachments, a professional land survey can provide important physical and boundary information.
Understanding what surveying can—and cannot—answer helps property owners make better decisions.
Start With the Property Boundary
Before evaluating whether an improvement crosses a property line, the location of the relevant boundary must be understood.
A professional land surveyor may evaluate:
- Deeds
- Legal descriptions
- Parcel maps
- Subdivision maps
- Prior surveys
- Records of Survey
- Monumentation
- Field evidence
- Other relevant records
The surveyor combines applicable records with field measurements and professional analysis to determine the surveying issues relevant to the assignment.
Visible fences, hedges, walls, and driveways should not automatically be assumed to represent legal property boundaries.
What Is an Encroachment?
An encroachment generally refers to a physical improvement or use that extends across a property boundary or into another defined area.
Examples may include:
- Fences
- Walls
- Roof overhangs
- Buildings
- Garages
- Driveways
- Retaining walls
- Landscaping improvements
- Other constructed features
Surveying can help document the relative position of physical improvements and property boundaries.
The legal consequences of an encroachment are a separate question that may require advice from an attorney or other qualified professional.
What Is an Easement?
An easement generally involves a right associated with the use of another person’s property for a defined purpose.
Common examples can involve:
- Access
- Utilities
- Drainage
- Ingress and egress
- Roads
- Other recorded rights
Easements can vary considerably in language, location, width, purpose, and legal effect.
A title report may identify recorded easement documents, but the underlying documents often need to be reviewed to understand how an easement is described.
Where appropriate, a surveyor may use record information to depict the location of an easement in relation to the property and visible improvements.
An Easement and an Encroachment Are Not the Same Thing
The terms are sometimes used interchangeably in casual conversation, but they describe different concepts.
An easement involves a property right or interest.
An encroachment generally concerns the physical position of an improvement or use relative to a boundary or other defined area.
For example, a driveway crossing a neighboring property might be located within a valid access easement—or it might raise a different boundary or title question.
Surveying helps establish relevant physical locations. Title professionals and attorneys may be needed to evaluate legal rights.
Why Title Documents Matter
If the purpose of the survey involves easements, provide available title information early.
Useful documents may include:
- Preliminary title reports
- Title commitments
- Recorded easement documents
- Grant deeds
- Legal descriptions
- Prior surveys
- Recorded maps
Simply knowing that an easement exists may not provide enough information to locate it.
The surveyor may need the actual recorded document containing the legal description, map, or other information defining the easement.
Existing Fences Can Be Misleading
Property owners often assume an existing fence is on the property line.
Sometimes it is. Sometimes it is not.
Fences may have been installed:
- For convenience
- Around landscaping
- Without a survey
- Along an assumed boundary
- Inside the actual property line
- In a location agreed upon informally by prior owners
The age of a fence does not by itself establish its relationship to the legal boundary.
If the exact boundary matters, obtain appropriate survey information rather than relying solely on the fence.
Why Encroachment Questions Often Arise Before Construction
Property-line concerns frequently surface when an owner plans a new improvement.
Examples include:
- Fences
- Walls
- ADUs
- Additions
- Garages
- Pools
- Driveways
- Retaining walls
- Landscaping
- Grading
Once construction begins, correcting a location problem can become expensive.
A boundary survey before design or construction can provide the project team with better information about the relationship between proposed improvements and the property boundary.
Surveying Can Be Important During a Property Purchase
Buyers may also encounter questions about easements or visible improvements during due diligence.
A wall may appear close to a property line. A neighboring driveway may cross the site. A commercial property may contain multiple access or utility easements.
Depending on the transaction, the appropriate survey may be a boundary survey or, for certain commercial transactions, an ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey.
The correct scope depends on what the buyer, lender, title company, attorney, or other parties need to understand.
A Surveyor Documents Location, Not Every Legal Conclusion
This distinction is important.
A land surveyor can provide professional surveying information about boundaries, monuments, improvements, and applicable record information within the survey scope.
Questions such as ownership rights, interpretation of agreements, adverse possession, prescriptive rights, or the legal enforceability of an easement may require advice from an attorney.
The survey often supplies important factual information that legal and title professionals can then use in their analysis.
What Should You Do If You Suspect an Encroachment?
Avoid making assumptions based solely on online maps, fences, or visual estimates.
Start by gathering information.
Helpful materials may include:
- Property deed
- Title report
- Prior survey
- Parcel or subdivision map
- Photographs
- Recorded easement documents
- Information about the improvement in question
Then explain the concern clearly when requesting a survey quote.
For example:
“The neighbor’s wall appears close to the property line and we would like to understand its location relative to the boundary.”
That is more useful than simply requesting “a property survey.”
What Information Should You Provide to the Surveyor?
When requesting survey work involving easements or possible encroachments, provide:
- Property address
- APN, if available
- Nature of the concern
- Relevant title documents
- Easement documents
- Deeds
- Prior surveys
- Site photographs, if helpful
- Planned construction or property transaction information
- Any applicable deadline
If the issue involves only one portion of a property, identify the area of concern.
Resolve Questions Before They Become Construction Problems
Property-line uncertainty can become more difficult once permanent improvements have been constructed.
If you are planning work near a property boundary, known easement, shared driveway, wall, or other potentially sensitive area, obtaining appropriate survey information early can reduce uncertainty.
The same principle applies when purchasing or developing property.
It is generally more useful to identify a question while there is still time to evaluate options than after a transaction has closed or construction has been completed.
Talk With Terwilliger About Boundary, Easement, or Encroachment Surveying
Terwilliger Land Survey Engineers provides professional surveying services for property owners, architects, engineers, developers, contractors, real estate professionals, attorneys, and other project teams throughout California.
If you have a question involving a property line, easement, wall, fence, driveway, structure, or other improvement, provide the property address and describe the concern as specifically as possible.
Available deeds, title documents, recorded easements, prior surveys, and project plans can help the survey team evaluate the appropriate scope.
