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April 14, 2003
“Building a road in the wrong place, sure doesn’t make for happy neighbours,” exclaimed landowner Robert Burton.
Robert bought some land in west central Alberta . It was an
isolated parcel that didn’t have any direct road access. He knew he
could obtain legal access by way of easement by negotiating an
agreement with the owner of the next quarter section.
The neighbour agreed to provide an easement as long as the easement
was immediately adjacent to the property line. Robert found the fence
line, moved in the big equipment and began building the road—never even
considering the fence might not be the property boundary.
Two things occurred when the road was finished. The landowner just
to the south needed access too—he built a road that was essentially an
extension of Robert’s road. Then, a third neighbour got involved. He
was selling some land and needed a Real Property Report that would
identify property boundaries and show the location of improvements
relative to the boundaries. He hired an Alberta Land Surveyor to
prepare the RPR.
Due to the difficult terrain and the presence of a river, the
survey was a difficult one. The Alberta Land Surveyor had to survey
from the closest official boundary markers, which were on both sides of
the river, and had to measure along the boundaries of several quarter
sections including the one along Robert’s easement and road.
It didn’t take long to find problems. The fence that Robert had
presumed to be on the property boundary was not—it was 70 metres east
of the actual boundary. The easement didn’t include any of the land
where the road had been constructed. The other neighbours learned that
they too had problems. Their road cut their quarter in such a way there
was now a 70-metre wide strip of land that was too small for their big
farm equipment.
Robert couldn’t believe it. A high-grade road with ditches is
extremely costly to move and land reclamation is even more costly. No
one was happy. “I wish I had hired an Alberta Land Surveyor. It would
have been a lot easier and sure would have saved a lot of frustration
and agony,” said Robert. “I won’t make that mistake again!”
This article is distributed as a public service by the Alberta Land
Surveyors’ Association. It is a true story. Names have been changed to
respect privacy. For free brochures about real property reports or
about easements & rights of way call 1-800-665-2572 or order here.
The Alberta Land Surveyors' Association, formed in 1910, is a
self-governing professional association legislated under the Land
Surveyors Act. The Association regulates the practice of land surveying
in Alberta for the protection of the public and administration of the
profession.
This article is provided as a public service by the Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association. |
