Message from Jim
Here at Nadeau Land Surveys, the requests keep coming in for a "Class D Survey" for municipal permit, so some municipalities continue to accept them as adequate. Hopefully the following explanations will result in better choices and proper use of land surveying services.
First, remove the term “Class D Survey" from your vocabulary. This term, incorrectly used by many people to describe a mortgage loan inspection, has never existed in our standards and is often misused in referring to a boundary survey. Part of the confusion is caused with the mortgage loan inspection being used in the lending industry to satisfy the survey requirement. To compound this matter, the real estate closing statement lists this service as a “Survey” and not a “Mortgage Loan Inspection”, which creates the belief that the cost of a boundary survey ranges between $200 - $400.
The mortgage loan inspection is a product directly related to lending and should never be used for private homeowner needs. When a closing occurs, a mortgage note is created and the on-site improvements are often used as loan collateral. The intention of this product is to evaluate building setback compliance at the time of construction and if National Flood Insurance Program mandatory flood insurance is required. These two items, and only these two items, are satisfied in a mortgage loan inspection. In the simplest of terms, the mortgage note creates an investment and the mortgage loan inspection aids in determining risk for the investor. It does not establish or identify boundary lines.
What makes a boundary survey different? To begin, a boundary survey does not rely solely upon the current deed in the locus chain of title, but actually utilizes the first deed from the original grantor regardless of how distant in the past this operative deed rests. Additionally, the operative deeds of all applicable neighboring chains of title are analyzed to determine sequence of lot or line creation. This determines junior and senior rights - a process the land surveyor uses to identify excess and deficiencies present in operative deeds. It is the best method to properly render a strong professional opinion as to the location of a record boundary line. In addition, boundary surveys also identify rights of way and easement locations, original called-for evidence, on-site encroachments, accurate area, differences in record vs. occupation lines, and of course, an accurate location of a boundary line defendable in a boundary dispute.
Every boundary line determination is a professional opinion of the land surveyor who performed the survey. Boundary line disputes can be created by different levels of “prudent” effort performed in locating the operative deeds or identifying the field evidence called for in said operative deeds. A land surveyor should never assume an iron pipe, monument, or steel rebar found has not been moved, does not mark a former corner prior to a conveyance, a neighbor’s boundary corner, an easement or right of way, or was set correctly. Until all operative deeds have been defined, even if the research takes you to an abutting town or county due to the splitting or merging of towns and counties, I do not believe “prudent effort” has been performed.
A mortgage loan inspection, on the other hand, often assumes the field evidence found is correct, solely uses the description on the current or proposed deed, does not evaluate neighbors' deeds, and assumes no typographical errors exist in the deed description.
Perhaps by mere convenience or cost savings, many users of the mortgage loan inspection appear to knowingly misuse this product by choosing not to accept the many qualifying statements disclosed. A common misuse pertains to municipal permits, variances, or approvals. Remember, acceptance of this product by a municipality, even if the acceptance of a "Class D Survey" is written within its municipal ordinance, does not make it an acceptable product.
The surveyor often becomes responsible for communicating to the homeowners, Realtors, designers, and architects they were misinformed and should not use the inspection for any purpose other than the two listed above. We will continue to educate as needed, but we encourage you to do the same: educate your colleagues and clients, and save yourselves trouble and liability by using the correct product for its intended purpose.
~ Jim