PLSO The Oregon Surveyor November/December 2021

13 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org parcels, as well as the 30-foot setback line that had been designated as a sep- arate boundary line for timber cutting. All parties agreed on the boundary line between the two properties, and also on the 30-foot setback for tree cutting. In this case, it was accepted local practice for the surveyor to set the tree cutting line as well as the property line. The sur- veyor had brought all parties together to ensure that they would be in legal agree- ment as towhere tree cutting would occur. Drawing the “Fine Line” Between Surveying and Law The above two use cases illustrate that the “line” between surveying and law can bend, depending upon the job the sur- veyor is performing. It is therefore up to the surveyor to know when to stick to the facts of surveying land (example 1), and when it is permissible and even ex- pected to know enough about the law so you can advise and/or protect your client from overstepping it and incurring pen- alties (example 2). Here are three examples of where sur - veyors and the law bump up against each other, and how they handle the “fine line.” Property Legal Description Typically, a property legal description is a work product coming from a surveyor after they survey a plot of land by us- ing either a metes and bounds survey, a rectangular survey, or a lot number block survey. The surveyor reviews county records of the property and also performs physical field work to define the property bound - aries. He or she develops a survey map of the property for his/her client that shows relevant markings and bound- aries, and that also is accompanied by a written legal description of the same that can be kept by the client and filed with the county. Of course, surveys are expensive—so there are times when individuals other than a surveyor are asked to develop proper- ty legal descriptions without physically surveying the property. These individu- als might be lawyers or title companies. They go to the county records to see what is available that describes the property and its environs, and they then develop a legal description without physically visit- ing or surveying the land. The risk is that the legal property descriptions they de- velop might be inaccurate. Here is an example: An individual buys what he believes to be a 40-acre parcel and he asks his family attorney to de- velop a property legal description. The attorney’s expertise isn’t in property law, but the task seems straightforward. The attorney researches the property docu- mentation at the county office. Using the documentation, the attorney develops a written legal description for the property. Ten years later, the original buyer de- cides to sell the north half of his 40-acre property, which is 20 acres. His purchas - er insists upon a survey, and a new legal description for the north 20 acres. The original buyer/owner and his newpurchas- er agree to hire a surveyor. The surveyor researches county documentation on the property, and also performs a field sur - vey to accurately identify property lines. The surveyor discovers that the entire 40-acre property is really only 38 acres. This makes the northern half of the prop- erty only 19 acres, and not 20 acres. The new purchaser thought he was making his good faith offer for 20 acres, not 19, so now there is a dispute between buy- er and seller. At this point, the surveyor has done his job. He has surveyed the property, pro - duced a surveymapwith legal descriptions, and flagged and staked boundaries and corners. If there is a dispute, this is the time for the surveyor to turn over his completed work to the disputing parties, and for those parties to seek attorneys and/or other means of legal recourse to resolve the dispute. The surveyor is out of the loop. What are the takeaways from this exam- ple? That the surveyor is the best source of a factually accurate legal description of property, and that once there is a dis- pute or a need for interpretation of a legal dispute, it is time to get an attor- ney involved. The Surprise Easement A surveyor is hired by a buyer to survey an 80-acre property as a pre-condition of sale. The surveyor performs the phys- ical field survey, and he also researches the property records at the county office and discovers an easement. This is a surprise to the buyer, whose aim was to develop the 80-acre tract of land into a subdivision, and to site homes in the area that is traversed by the ease- ment. The owner says he was aware of an old dirt road that, to his best knowl- edge, had been used as a logging road 50 years ago, but that road since has been largely overgrown with grass and trees. Nevertheless, there is a legal issue. Can the easement be found to be legally aban- doned—or could the county argue that it is still in effect and that, in an emer - gency, the county can legally traverse Featured Article The surveyor reviews county records of the property and also performs physical field work to define the property boundaries. He or she develops a survey map of the property for his/her client that shows relevant markings and boundaries, and that also is accompanied by a written legal description of the same that can be kept by the client and filed with the county. continues T