In most cases, when a homeowner sees a property monument, for example an iron pipe, granite bound or a drill hole in a rock, you
can be reasonably sure that this is one of the property markers.
It is when situations arise such as putting up a fence, adding an addition to your house or subdividing your property that you want to be SURE that the monument is in the correct position, and is your property corner.
Most monuments are not permanent and can be moved by accident, nature or maliciously. I cannot count the numerous times that I have heard about a pipe needing to be reset because it was found on the ground or was hit “by a plow”.
As an example, I was surveying a piece of property in Ogunquit, Maine and loggers were also on the property. I found a survey pin in approximately the correct location, but I was surprised that this recently set marker was not matching other monuments that I had found.
I talked to the logger about where I was going to work so I did not have trees falling near me. He then disclosed that he had hit the pin and he put it back where he thought it went.
Another example was on a piece of property in York, Maine. There are many old subdivisions that were developed as camp lots. Someone had torn out the old camp and built a new bigger house. They saw all the pins and knew they met the town setbacks, or so they thought. The rear monuments that they saw on their back line were actually not their corners but were the neighbor’s corners behind them. Their corners were buried about four feet from each of these monuments. Long story short, they were encroaching onto setbacks and had a lot of issues to resolve.
These situations happen all the time, so if you are planning on doing anything near a property line… Don’t Guess ~ Know!
