If you own property in New York, you will want to do everything you can to protect your financial investment and property rights. It’s important to know as much as possible about your property, and one way you can do this is by having a survey done. Even if you are not currently involved in a boundary dispute or want to build on your land, there are many benefits to taking this step.
A survey is often a requirement to complete a transaction when buying new property or a piece of land. However, if you’ve never had one done or it has been awhile since you had a survey done, you may want to schedule one soon. Knowing everything about your property, especially the exact location of boundary lines, can help you avoid costly legal disputes and other complications.
The benefits of a survey
There are several reasons why having a property survey done can be a good idea. One of the main purposes of this process is to find out exactly where boundary lines are, but it can accomplish much more than that. A survey can let you know the following things about your property:
- Easements – There may be easements on your property you do not know about, which can affect your property use and right-of-way. It’s good to know about any easement that could impact you.
- Encroachments – Your neighbor or another building could be encroaching on your property, and you may not even know until you have a survey done.
- Water – A survey can clearly mark the location of things like underground ponds, retention ditches, streams and other bodies of water that could be on your property.
- Utilities – When you have a survey done, you can find out exactly where utilities are on your property, particularly underground utilities you may not be able to see.
- Burial grounds – A survey can also let you know if there is an old cemetery on your property that could impact what you want to do with your land.
There are many benefits to knowing as much as possible about the property you currently own or hope to buy in the future. If you are unsure of what to do to protect your property rights or what the results of a survey mean for you, it can be helpful to seek the assistance of an experienced New York real estate attorney.