Why You Should Always Use a Land Surveyor Before Buying a Property
For Queenslanders thinking about buying a piece of land or a new home, office or commercial property, it’s important to know exactly what you’re getting with your purchase.
There are many processes, permits, and hoops you need to jump through when purchasing, but there’s one step that you should never skip or skimp on – land surveying.
Here are 3 good reasons why you should always use a land surveyor before buying property.
Know Exactly What You’re Buying
Sometimes it’s not quite a case of what you see is what you get. Only a qualified and experienced land surveyor will be able to accurately measure and evaluate your prospective property.
They’ll establish the property’s exact dimensions and size, and the locations of any buildings or structures. Land surveying also takes into account natural topography of the land, identifying any slopes, hazards, natural obstacles or areas of significant cultural or heritage importance.
Having these facts and figures presented to you before sale will allow you to evaluate any development plans you may have and see factors you may not have considered when simply looking at the piece of land at face value
Be Aware of Potential Issues with Your Land
When people are selling their land or house, they may not disclose all of the information to potential buyers in their eagerness to sell. Buying a property is likely to be the biggest investment and financial decision of your life.
Using a qualified land surveyor will ensure any issues with the land or property is apparent to you. On proper inspection, a corner may be missing from your land, or the exact property boundaries may be unclear. Structures like the house, pool, sheds and fences either on the subject property or neighbouring the property may be built in the wrong location and may even be built over the boundary – this is called an encroachment.
These things can become far bigger issues later down the track so it’s important to identify and deal with them early on, or not go ahead with the purchase if a large issue has presented itself.
Avoid Boundary Disputes with Neighbours
There’s nothing worse than being at odds with your neighbours. For Queensland homeowners, with our large backyards and generous lot sizes, one of the most common causes of neighbourhood disputes is the fence dividing 2 properties.
Boundary disputes can be avoided if each party is aware of the exact dimensions of their property and where their property lines exist. A land survey will establish these facts and remove any confusion with neighbours down the line.
If a boundary dispute does arise, land surveyors can act on your behalf to represent you.
For an experienced, registered land surveyor, contact Arnold Development Consultants (ADC), Queensland’s established property development consultants.
Braden Bills
Jun 1, 2016 -
I’ve always been curious why you would want to hire a land surveyor. It makes sense that you would want to know exactly what you are buying! They can identify any issues with the land, too. Thank you for sharing!
Faylinn
Sep 1, 2016 -
I’m thinking about buying a hundred acres of land and really like the idea of getting a land surveyor to help me know what exactly I’m buying. It would be good to know more about the topography and whether or not the land would be really good for farm land. However, are surveyors able to also tell me what the value of the land really is as well?
Baxter Abel
Oct 25, 2016 -
I appreciate what you said about using a land surveyor in order to know exactly what you’re buying when purchasing property. Are there any specific questions one should ask a surveyor if they are planning on developing their property into subdivisions? Thanks for the information, it’s great to know some of the technicalities of purchasing and developing land.
adcqld
Oct 28, 2016 -
Thank you Baxter for your comments. Arnolds are happy that they were of use to you. Re: Further Information on the Subdivision of Land may we suggest you also take a look at our other posts on this very topic:
Residential Subdivision – A Guide for Queenslanders:
https://www.adcqld.com.au/residential-subdivision-a-guide-for-queenslanders/
The How and When of Property Subdivision:
https://www.adcqld.com.au/the-how-and-when-of-property-subdivision/
Helpful Advice for Subdividing Land:
https://www.adcqld.com.au/helpful-advice-for-subdividing-land/
Top 3 Benefits of Subdividing Land:
https://www.adcqld.com.au/top-3-benefits-of-subdividing-land/
These a relatively speaking comprehensive posts on the Subdivision of lnad. Have a read through them and if you have further questions please feel free to contact us: https://www.adcqld.com.au/contact-us/
Best wishes
Michael G Arnold
Director
Arnold Development Consultants
Gloria Durst
Jun 7, 2017 -
I agree that you would want to find a land surveyor in order to avoid any disputes when you have a property touching yours. It would seem important to avoid this kind of conflict and start things off on the right foot. My sister is buying a new piece of property so she’ll have to find a land surveyor who can make sure that everything is good for her land.
Leo Broger
Aug 21, 2017 -
You have provided good information on the land survey. Neglecting to establish property lines can be expensive and time-consuming. It may also cause a legal problem. So it is always advisable to go for a land survey before constructing any property.