Get a new survey. Take the coverage.
The part that saves people the most money, and the part that gets skipped the most often.
This is the part that saves people the most money and gets skipped the most often.
Your title policy comes with a standard exclusion for anything a survey would have revealed. Fence lines in the wrong place. A driveway or shed that crosses onto the neighbor's lot. A pool that sits over an easement. Without the survey coverage, all of that is your problem alone.
For a small percentage of a premium you are already paying, most of that exclusion comes off. Compared with the cost of a boundary dispute, which runs into five figures in legal fees before anyone wins anything, it is the least expensive protection in your entire transaction.
Why a new survey, and not the seller's old one
- Things change. Fences move, decks get built, driveways get widened. A survey from 2016 does not show the shed the neighbor added in 2022.
- You have no recourse on someone else's survey. If the seller's surveyor made an error, you were not their client. You cannot go back to them.
- Using an existing survey requires the seller to sign an affidavit swearing nothing has changed. If anything has, that document does not work, and you find out late.
- Your lender may require a new one anyway, which means paying for it after you have already argued about it.
Ask for a new survey and elect the survey coverage. If your agent tells you the seller is providing an existing survey, ask whether it is current and whether coverage is still available.
Every transaction is different, and this is general information rather than legal or tax advice. Ask your agent, your escrow officer, and where it matters, an attorney.