GAPS & OVERLAPS IN LAND SURVEYS

A “hiatus” in land-title-speak is where there’s a gap between two pieces of property that’s not meant to be there.  Often I talk about the problems of real estate title when land surveys overlap, but a hiatus is the opposite case that creates a no-man’s land between two property owners.  

Get the new survey, and then get title insurance to cover any “oopsies” in that survey.

A hiatus is caused by the curvature of the Earth (thank you, Rusty)—presumably this problem did not occur on pre-Columbian surveys—it’s also caused by land survey mistakes.  

As my brother and lawyer, Rusty Collins, points out, there were revolutionary people back around the time of the Revolutionary War who surveyed all the known country.  They used physical things—rods and chains—and it depended on the temperature of the chain what kind of measurement they got.  Today we use mirrors and laser beams and lots of trigonometry, but we can still get errors.  

You could have one survey crew coming from the east that gives a description of 66 feet to the tree, then a platted subdivision that went to the west line of the section.  In the meantime, the tree dies, and the gap may go unnoticed for 40 to 60 years…till somebody gets a new survey and discovers no-man’s land.  What can you do about a gap?  

Plant a new tree and make the environmentalists happy.  That doesn’t always work.    

A survey in time saves a property line, but there can still be overlaps or hiatuses.  Oops.  Get the new survey, and then get title insurance to cover any “oopsies” in that survey.  A title insurance policy can’t stretch or shrink land, but it can sure save you acres of money on a property line dispute.

Written by Stephen Collins and CJ Godwin