jar546
CBO
Now, they have to tear it down. This is what happens when you count telephone poles to determine your location instead of getting a survey.
Click Here For The Story
Click Here For The Story
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Don't Build A House On The Wrong Lot - Why Surveys Are Required
- Thread starter jar546
- Start date
Yankee Chronicler
REGISTERED
I had already sent a link to this story to my boss and to the land use administrator. I knew about the case before, and while I'm happy that the landowner prevailed, I wish the judge had ordered the property restored after removal of the house.
jar546
CBO
I too was wondering why he did not order the land restored, but then again, knocking down the house may be punishment enough, but does not indemnify the owner of the land.
mtlogcabin
SAWHORSE
We had a contractor come in all upset because we approved his footing and foundation wall inspections on the wrong lot. We pointed out to him it was his responsibility to make sure he was on the correct lot not ours.. It was the first house going up in a new platted subdivision. It was surveyed and the stakes where in for every lot on the street. He just went the wrong direction when doing his layout.
Having a survey is great but you have to know how to read it.
Having a survey is great but you have to know how to read it.
Yankee Chronicler
REGISTERED
Years ago, wearing my architect hat, I designed a house for the last remaining lot in a subdivision that had otherwise been fully built out years before. Before starting on the design, I visited the site to get a sense of where on the lot to place the house, and what direction to orient it. I had a copy of the survey map with me, and something just didn't look right. I started work on the design, but I was concerned that the adjacent house on the west side looked a lot closer to my client's lot than it should have been. I recommended that my client commission a new survey.
Good call. What the survey revealed was that the neighboring house was almost right on the property line, well into the side yard setback area, and their electric and phone lines were on my client's property. Apparently, whoever had built that house didn't know the difference between grid/true north and magnetic north, and he built the house in the wrong place.
It would have become a nightmare, because it was a steep, rocky site. We were limited in where we could place the house and still fit a driveway and an on-site septic system, and the logical place for the house would have been very close to the adjoining house. My client's attorney at that point advised him rather strongly not to build, and the project was abandoned.
Good call. What the survey revealed was that the neighboring house was almost right on the property line, well into the side yard setback area, and their electric and phone lines were on my client's property. Apparently, whoever had built that house didn't know the difference between grid/true north and magnetic north, and he built the house in the wrong place.
It would have become a nightmare, because it was a steep, rocky site. We were limited in where we could place the house and still fit a driveway and an on-site septic system, and the logical place for the house would have been very close to the adjoining house. My client's attorney at that point advised him rather strongly not to build, and the project was abandoned.
I showed up for a foundation inspection, failed for being on the wrong lot. They owned both lots, so it was just a paper work thing, not a tear down the house thing. And why tear it down? Why not move the house? Sure, you have to build a new foundation, but at least it's not a whole new house.