Which lot is which?

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Which lot is which?

I have personal experience of a realtor placing his for sale sign on the wrong lot and showing it to prospective buyers. First I noticed that two realtors showed photos of the same lot on their realtor.ca listings and both stated there was a cleared building site. The Geographic Information System (GIS) for the area, however, showed they were two different lots – one with a building site and one still fully forested.

When I went to view the the lot I noticed the other realtor’s sign laying in the ditch in front of the lot I was going to see – the one with the build site. So, I got really suspicious and began a search for pins and found that the realtor not only had the sign in front of the wrong lot, he had a description of the wrong lot. The realtor’s lot was 2 away and still fully forested, with no building site and a creek running through it.

I explained the mistake to the realtor and he said that it is the other realtor who has his sign in front of the wrong lot. I explained that I am a BC Land Surveyor, that I went onto the lot, personally checked the lot number on the property corners and found that he is the one selling the wrong lot.

So, imagine if he sold that lot, the wrong lot, to someone who started to build on it without first getting a survey to determine exactly where the lot is. My wife and I didn’t purchase either of the lots.

These mixups have happened many times in Canada for property and houses. See the paper prepared by Bob Aaron or Aaron & Aaron, Toronto, for the Law Society of Upper Canada Real Estate Summit in April 2015 and adapted for a webinar for the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors to read examples or real estate mixups: http://www.aols.org/sites/default/files/SURVEYS%20AOLS%20WEBINAR%20AUGUST%2012%202O15.pdf

When building a modern mansion with a 2-storey infinity pool, underground garage and other deluxe features, we had to call Lorin out multiple times: initial topographic and tree survey, form layout, form checks, corners and fence lines and he even had to do some projects twice because the city required us to move an outbuilding and make changes to the main house foundation. He was very was very prompt with site work and timely with the drafted plans which helped keep our project rolling along despite the many delays.

Builder

When designing a house for a large rural lot, it was necessary to know where the large trees were so that an arborist could determine which trees were within the restricted covenant zone (near a creek) and therefore could not be removed, and which could be removed to accommodate a new house construction. Lorin provided a Topographic Survey showing all elevations plus identified the location and size of all trees over 20cm diameter.

House Designer

We are planning to sell our rural acreage as we downsize for retirement. The area is rapidly being developed with shopping centres, commercial complexes, houses and condos so our lot will be desirable for a developer. There is a creek running through two sides of the lot and since there are building setback rules to protect waterways, our realtor suggested we have a survey done. Lorin provided a survey plan showing the top of bank so that a prospective buyer can determine how much of the land can be developed.

Retiree

The best way to begin a landscape design project is to have Lorin do a survey that determines where the buildings, fences and large trees are located in relation to the property lines and to show key elevations. The drafted survey plan provides an accurate base for my new design.

Landscape Designer

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