California Surveyors Forums

During a survey to retrace the westerly line of my clients property as shown on a filed tract map, I located the adjoining property's newly poured foundation and calculate an offset distance of 3.9', but another surveyor certified with the City the setback was 5.00'.

The other surveyor did not file a record of survey on his clients property, and the boundary shown on the topographic map sent to me was not retraceable when reviewing the adjoiners grant deed.

I am preparing a corner record on the monuments I set associated with the retracement of the westerly line of the filed tract.

The question I have is what responsibility, if any, is there for me to notify the City of a potential issue relative to the setback of the new foundation and structure being constructed? I have sent an email to the second surveyor with my findings and suggest he review his work. I was not contracted to locate the foundation, but do I reference it on the corner record?

Corner record?
Sounds like a material descrepancy to me.

0.06' difference between monuments 1230' apart does not justify material discrepancy Clark.

Keith,

You probably didn't have a duty to report the potential setback issue with the City until you posted here.

But it's not a bad idea to do so in any event.

Oh - showing it on your corner record, not so much.

I feel we all have the responsibility to First make diligent effort to contact another surveyor if significant error is suspected... Email, possibly it was never received or read? You need to do more than that. If that fails, the next step needs to be taken.
The consumer protection issue: if the home owner has issues later because of the offset error you know about, but did not report... you failed in a basic responsibility.

Not reporting an infraction seems to fit "aiding and abetting", regardless if you keep that knowledge in your head or say it out loud.

you are between a rock and a hard spot. do what you feel is the right thing.

What does "the boundary shown on the topographic map sent to me was not retraceable when reviewing the adjoiners grant deed" mean?

I expect that the potential material discrepancy is where the other surveyor may have found the line 1.1 feet off from where you find it but that is unclear. How did the other surveyor 'certify' the property line setback? Was it staked? Is it possible that the foundation was constructed in the wrong spot despite his best effort? I suppose that if there is that much error between two expert opinions and there is a house built so close to a line that was not previously monumented then someone ought to put something on record and if the situation is as clear as you think then a corner record could work...

I probably would not call the city to report that a neighbor of a client was encroaching on my client. Maybe the client wants to do it if he dislikes his neighbor but he would not get encoragement from me. I suggest you consider asking your client how he feels about granting the neighbor a 2' wide easement along the house and perhaps the neighbor would be willing to foot the bill for the document

Johnston wrote:What does "the boundary shown on the topographic map sent to me was not retraceable when reviewing the adjoiners grant deed" mean?

This means just as I stated. The surveyor who laid out the foundation did not file any document (RS or CR), and the topo does not reference any street monuments shown on filed maps which I am retracing. Yes the other surveyor potentially is in violation of the PLS Act. Then to boot, he certified the structure in the wrong location by my measurements.

That's why the adjoiner hired me, as my client is a HOA for a condominium complex when the adjoiner pointed out the fence was off. The adjoiner did not pay for a boundary, and the other surveyor called the fence off 2'. The fence has significant angle points when it is suppose to be straight. As stated, my retracement of the tract map fits within 0.06' between monuments so there is no material discrepancy on my work.

Additional responsibility would lie on the other surveyor for laying out and certifying his work, under his E&O insurance if the City makes them tear down and correct. I have no major issues here as my work fits just fine and my corner record will show the monuments I set referencing the tract map which established my clients boundary.

Stay tuned, as I am only the messenger to the City, lol.

Peter Ehlert wrote:I feel we all have the responsibility to First make diligent effort to contact another surveyor if significant error is suspected... Email, possibly it was never received or read?

The other surveyor did respond that he would look into it, but not sure what that means. I have my opinion of his work from previous endeavors and dealing with him during the map review process in the past.

He did cooperate when I originally contacted him and sent me a copy of his topographic map, which is far below the standard of care when it comes to a topographic map, but not sure what version he sent me.

Stay tuned

Follow up:
I have spent a couple hours attempting to identify where the surveys differ and the other surveyor recently found his error.
My work was correct and the other surveyor said he will address this error with his client. Now he has a 2-Story structure being constructed within the minimum setback by approximately 1'.
My corner corner record has been submitted without identifying the adjoining structure as it does not affect my clients property.

Now I am curious how the City will address this issue if the adjoiner does not step up since the surveyor certified the foundation satisfies the minimum setback distances.

At a minimum I would place the other surveyor on notice and if necessary, I would send it certified. If you have an active JPPC, I would send it to them. I would also advise my client of the problem and make sure everything was documented. When I send my CR to the county surveyor I would explain everything to him/her. One thing I will not tolerate is being forced to file an ROS because the other surveyor didn't. If that were to happen and push came to shove I would sue him/her in small claims court for recovery.

You are doing the right thing by seeking input.

Good luck!

PLS7393 wrote:Follow up:
I have spent a couple hours attempting to identify where the surveys differ and the other surveyor recently found his error.
My work was correct and the other surveyor said he will address this error with his client. Now he has a 2-Story structure being constructed within the minimum setback by approximately 1'.
My corner corner record has been submitted without identifying the adjoining structure as it does not affect my clients property.

Now I am curious how the City will address this issue if the adjoiner does not step up since the surveyor certified the foundation satisfies the minimum setback distances.

The City is aware of the problem? Since the setback is probably a building/fire code issue, some possible options would be to require them to upgrade building materials and openings to whatever standards are required for less than a 5' setback from PL. In lieu of that, they could allow the property owner to obtain a "no-build" easement from your client to make sure nothing is built within the required building spacing. Or I suppose they could require him to tear down the building, but that would be silly if other options are available.