Real estate title glossary
What is boundary survey?
Definition
A boundary survey is a licensed surveyor's measurement and map of a parcel's legal boundaries, showing improvements, easements and any encroachments.
Title insurers usually except survey matters unless a current survey is provided. A survey is how encroachments and boundary overlaps, invisible in the records, are found.
How it shows up in a title search
A records search does not replace a survey: the county record says where the lines should be, and the survey says what is actually on the ground.
Guides that go deeper
- Encroachment: Meaning, Examples, and What Happens When a Neighbor Builds Over the LineAn encroachment is an unauthorized intrusion onto a neighbor's land. Meaning, common examples, adverse possession periods (7 to 10 years) and the usual fixes.
- Metes and Bounds: Description, Example and How to Read OneA metes and bounds description traces a property boundary from a point of beginning, line by line, back to that point. A worked example and how to read one.
- What an Automated Title Search MissesAutomation reads the recorded index fast and consistently. It cannot see unrecorded interests, offline records, or resolve name ambiguity.
Related terms
Source: Legal Information Institute, Wex: metes and bounds. Plain-English summary of general US usage; state law varies, and this is not legal advice.