Building a fence or questioning a line with a neighbour: start with a boundary survey

Where is the property line? Why survey pins and legal surveys matter before a fence, a garage or a disagreement with a neighbour in Canada, and how a land surveyor re-establishes the line.

An old fence, a hedge or a row of trees is not proof of where a property line runs. The only reliable way to know is a boundary survey by a land surveyor commissioned in your province. The surveyor re-establishes the legal line from the registered plans and the survey evidence found on the ground.

When to call a surveyor

Before building a fence close to the line, so that it is on your land and you avoid having to move it later.
Before a garage, an addition, a deck or a pool, to respect the setbacks in your municipality's zoning by-law.
When you and a neighbour disagree about where the line is, or a structure seems to cross it.
When you cannot find the survey pins, or they were disturbed by landscaping or construction.

How a boundary survey works

Research. The surveyor reviews the registered plans and the documents at the land registry office, and earlier surveys of your lot and the neighbouring ones.
Field search. A crew looks for existing monuments, usually iron bars buried at the corners, and measures them precisely.
Re-establishing the line. The surveyor weighs the evidence according to provincial surveying law and determines where the boundary lies.
Marking. Missing corners can be replaced and the line can be staked so your fence builder knows where to work.
Plan. You receive a signed plan or report showing the boundaries and what was found.

Only a commissioned land surveyor may set or replace legal survey markers. Moving or removing a survey marker is an offence under provincial surveying legislation in most provinces.

Fences between neighbours

Rules on shared fences are provincial and sometimes municipal. Ontario, for example, has a Line Fences Act that sets a process for fences on the line between two properties. Check your municipality's fence by-law for height and location rules, and talk to your neighbour early: a survey both of you can see often ends the discussion.

What a surveyor cannot do

A surveyor tells you where the legal line is. They do not judge disputes over ownership or compensation: that is for the parties, their lawyers or the courts.

Describe your property and your project in the form: commissioned land surveyors near you get back to you with a written quote.