Surveys play an essential role in real estate transactions throughout Texas. Whether you’re purchasing commercial or residential property, working with a professional land surveyor is crucial to accessing precise details about the property boundary, easements, and potential encroachments.
Crucial to buyers, sellers, and property developers, the information unveiled through a land survey helps to reduce the risk of legal disputes and common problems.
In this article, we’ll guide you through the specific Texas land surveying requirements you may need to be aware of when buying or selling property. We’ll also explain why surveying is so important in the real estate landscape, to ensure stakeholders can navigate deals with clarity and confidence.
A land survey is a detailed measurement and examination of the features and boundaries of a property. These evaluations are conducted by professional land surveyors with a deep knowledge of the information and details crucial to an effective survey. Texas land surveyors conduct a range of different types of surveys before a transaction commences, including:
Throughout Texas, land surveys provide parties with comprehensive insights and information. They cover everything from legal descriptions of the property to insights into the location of buildings, structures, property boundary lines, easements, and encroachments.
Sometimes, a registered professional land surveyor may also include information about flood zone classifications, and insights into necessary improvements for things like fences or driveways.
Texas is often referred to as a “survey state”, although surveys aren’t always a requirement for every real estate transaction within the region. If there is an existing survey and no improvements have been made to the property, then a new survey may not be necessary.
When land surveys are required, the process for surveying a property or space is governed by specific legal requirements. These requirements are mostly outlined in the Texas administrative code and enforced by the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors.
Texas survey requirements mandate that every land and property survey meets specific standards, including providing accurate measurements of property boundaries, identification of easements, and the documentation of improvements. Additionally, only licensed and professional land surveyors, identified by “RPLS Texas” (Registered Professional Land Surveyor) certifications, may carry out these surveys.
Working with a professional land surveyor is crucial to reducing the risk of negligence, and minimizing legal disputes. Texas guidelines also require all professional surveyors to provide detailed reports, often accompanied by maps or plats that include legal descriptions of the property, boundary lines, and other essential information.
On a broad scale, the Texas Administrative Code outlines minimum standards of practice for all land surveys. However, it’s worth noting that there are variations in the requirements attributed to a new survey for different property types. For instance, surveys for residential properties usually focus on the location of structures (houses, driveways and fences), boundary lines and easements.
These surveys help to ensure homeowners comply with zoning laws, and don’t enter into disputes with neighbors. Commercial land surveys, such as ALTA or NSPS surveys, on the other hand, may be more comprehensive. They might include more details on zoning classifications, rights of way, and other factors relevant to financing and development projects.
Working with a licensed surveyor might seem like a time-consuming process, but it is important. Surveys conducted by a certified professional land surveyor will help to establish ownership rights and land boundaries before a transaction is completed.
By providing precise measurements and detailed descriptions of the property or land, a survey can significantly reduce the risk of misunderstanding and disputes over property limits. Additionally, land surveys provide valuable insights into critical land features. For instance, easements, which grant certain rights to use portions of a property for specific purposes, like utility lines and access roads, aren’t always apparent without a survey.
Similarly, surveys can identify encroachments, where a neighbor’s land intrudes onto the surveyed property, helping to address potential disputes before they arise.
Ultimately, professional land surveying helps to eliminate or reduce:
Many people investing in real-estate transactions ask the team at Nettleman: “Is a land survey required for closing in Texas?” While there are instances where a new survey may not be necessary, overlooking Texas survey requirements isn’t recommended.
Without a survey, the boundaries and attributes of a property may not be clearly defined. This can lead to significant disputes with neighbors over land ownership. In some cases, if you fail to survey real estate effectively, you can end up dealing with costly litigation and legal processes.
Additionally, there are financial risks to not conducting a survey with a registered surveyor. For instance, you may unknowingly purchase a property with easements or encroachments that restrict use, which devalues your investment. You could even end up investing in building fences, sheds, or other structures that encroach on a neighbor’s property.
When this happens, you may be taken to court, where you’ll need to argue for your right to keep the structure, and may potentially end up having to remove it. Working with the right people on a land survey helps you to avoid this issue, and make real estate decisions with confidence.
For most people investing in new property or land, conducting a land survey starts with understanding Texas survey requirements, and determining whether such a survey is necessary. During this stage, you’ll need to identify whether there is an existing survey that provides up-to-date information on property lines and boundaries.
It’s also worth taking the time to think about the kinds of surveys that will be necessary, based on whether you’re investing in property development, residential, or commercial property. Once you’ve identified the need for a survey:
Once your surveyor has collected all the data required, they’ll create a detailed map showing your property boundaries, easements, and encroachments, and prepare any additional required documentation. They’ll give you a draft of the survey to review, before the final survey will be certified and delivered to the relevant parties.
Remember, just as the time it takes to conduct a survey can vary, the cost of the service may differ too. More comprehensive surveys like ALTA/NSPS may be more expensive. Additionally, if you need to expedite the survey, there may be additional fees to pay.
Ultimately, land surveys are an important part of a successful real estate transaction. Understanding Texas survey requirements, and working with a licensed surveyor can significantly improve your chances of making real estate decisions with clarity and confidence. Dr. Tony Nettleman is a leading expert in land surveying, having authored numerous respected reference publications and journal articles. He is frequently called upon to provide expert testimony in surveying-related matters.
With Nettleman Land Consultants, you’ll be able to more effectively avoid legal disputes and issues and ensure you get the best value out of your investment. If you want to protect yourself from unnecessary conflicts and common problems when purchasing land in Texas, work with the professionals. Dr. Nettleman helps simplify real estate transactions with over 20 years of boundary surveying, consulting, and expert witness expertise. Learn more about our company from our YouTube videos, or consider reaching out to our friendly team to schedule an appointment.
Dr. Nettleman is a Land Surveying Engineer and Attorney. He has held distinguished professorships at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, University of Florida, Florida Atlantic University, and Troy University. Tony currently teaches continuing education courses for attorneys and land surveyors, provides online test preparation modules to help land surveyors become licensed in all 50 states, and serves as an expert witness in boundary, easement, title and riparian disputes. He is licensed as a surveyor and attorney in Florida as well as a professional surveyor in TX, CA, NM, SD, FL, AL, OH, KY, NV, WC
August 23, 2024
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