Get a Survey ID Check: Where’s My Property Lines?

A licensed building surveyor inspector conducts a Survey ID Check to identify exactly where property lines exist.

Elie Farah, our professional building inspector, determines this based on several factors. These include historical boundary lines obtained from the Land Title office, previous land surveys, and a new survey.

Property boundaries can be controversial in many ways. You may say this is your boundary, but your neighbour disagrees. So, how do you know who’s right? Getting a survey ID check is the best way to end the potential disputes that may occur.

What is Survey ID Check? 

A licensed building inspector or surveyor conducts a survey ID check to identify exactly where property lines exist. Effective Building & Consultancy experts identify this by knowing the historical boundary lines, previous land surveys, and a new survey. 

Once the survey is taken and determined, the property line is specified, it becomes a legal boundary and cannot be disputed. 

What Are Your Property Boundaries?

A boundary line is an invisible line that divides one piece of land from another. To make it legal, boundary lines are determined by land surveyors or even building inspectors who look on property lines on a map and may set markers on boundaries. 

Sometimes, the “absolute zero,” or the invisible line, has no thickness, which often begins the trouble.

For example, your neighbour has a legal right-of-way between your property and their driveway. You decide to put up a fence in your backyard to ensure your children aren’t harmed by your neighbour’s cars going up and down their driveway. 

You tell your neighbour, you are going to put up a fence, and they agree. However, they feel their driveway is too narrow after it’s built and accuse you of encroaching their right-of-way.

Because you don’t want to get into a heated argument over the issue, you share the cost of hiring a land surveyor to determine the exact property boundary. So, yeah, you built your fence on the boundary, but it crosses the boundary because you built it squarely on the invisible line.

Then, your neighbour tells you to move it to your side of the line. You say it’s a shared boundary, so your fence is exactly where it should be. It could be a starting point of a serious boundary dispute.

Why Should You Get a Survey ID Check?

The main reason for finding out your boundary properties is to remove doubt and confusion. Knowing your exact boundary isn’t an issue under normal circumstances. However, if you or your neighbour decides to do landscaping, renovations, or other home improvements, your boundaries become important.

For example:

• You want to put up a boundary fence or build fence extensions. Where should it be placed? Even if your neighbour agrees to build the fence at your own expense, it turns out you have built all of it on their side of the property line; they can demand that you move or demolish it.
• There’s a retaining wall on or near your boundary, and it starts to collapse. Your neighbor may need to pay the cost of building a suitable replacement wall if it endangers your property.
• You want to add a bedroom. Council regulations state that the structure must be located at least a metre from your boundary. A survey ID check will show you where it is.

Even if you feel confident your boundaries are where they are stated to be on your plans and have been marked out, you still need to have a survey ID check done for other reasons. If you want to divide your land or add a flat, for example, a surveyor can help you determine whether or not you are entitled to it legally.

Getting a building permit or development approval may depend on your surveyor’s expertise. Aside from knowing your boundaries, a land surveyor will also consider the scope of your land, the surrounding landscape, and other factors that give the entire picture of your land’s topography and the location of any existing or intended land structure.

Effective Building & Consultancy could assist in drawing up plans and produce all the necessary documentation for you. If necessary, we can also assist the builders in ensuring your project adheres to building codes.

How to Have a Survey ID Check?

Getting a survey ID check is the best way to know your legal rights and responsibilities and resolve disputes before they arise.

Here’s how you can get a survey ID check in New South Wales:

Determine the Boundary for Fencing Work

If you and your neighbour want to build, fix, or replace a fence but disagree on your properties’ common boundary, you can serve a boundary notice on your neighbour. This is a procedure under the Dividing Fences Act 1991.

A Boundary Notice informs your neighbour that you want to work out where the boundary is to do fencing work and sets out the steps that you and neighbour can take.

After receiving a boundary notice, you have seven days to peg out where you think the boundary is or hire a surveyor to determine the boundary. If you don’t do anything, your neighbour may be able to hire a surveyor and claim half the costs from you.

Determine the Boundary for Other Reasons

Suppose you or your neighbour want to know the common boundary for a reason aside from fencing work. In that case, you can apply to the Registrar General for a “Determination of Title Boundary.”

Before you apply, you will need to organise your own survey. The Registrar General only considers matters where some doubt has been raised about where the boundary is (for example, a conflict between two surveys).

The filing of application is here done through NSW Registry Services

If your neighbour applies to the Determination of Title Boundary, the Registrar General will notify you and ask you to make submissions within 21 days. You can check this link for more information on finding the boundary.

However, if you want to determine the common boundary, you want to do fencing work; it’s cheaper and faster to serve a Boundary Notice. Check the detailed information about boundaries and fences here.

How Can Effective Building & Consultancy Assist in Survey ID Check?

Effective Building & Consultancy has professional building inspectors and surveyors who offer survey ID checks throughout Sydney. Our services can show the location of any improvements on a lot with the land boundaries.

If you are purchasing a residence using finance, the lender will require a survey ID check to ensure no intrusion upon the subject property. This is also very essential if there are issues over the location of a building or fence work on or near the boundary.

For more information about our services, you may contact us at 02 9613-3353 or visit our Help Centre.