SPADE GEOMATICS OFFERS LAND SURVEYING SERVICES ACROSS NOVA SCOTIA
PROPERTY SURVEYS
To ensure efficient and accurate property surveys, Spade Geomatics provides personal attention to each client. Our team of Geomatics Technologists and Professional Land Surveyors take pride in our agility and ability to respond to clients' needs and schedule.
Your home and property is one of the most important investments you will make. A professional surveyor gives you the information you need to protect that investment whether you are purchasing, selling, building, making improvements, or resolving a boundary dispute with a neighbour.
Spade Geomatics will cater to your needs, large or small, and give you peace of mind whatever your plans. From locating and marking a specific boundary to a full property retracement plan, Spade Geomatics will provide the information you need to make the right decision for you.
When you buy or sell, know exactly where your boundaries are and where all major features (e.g. buildings, driveways, fences, pools, sheds, and walkways) are in relation to those boundaries. Know if there are any easements, utilities, or rights of way that will affect your use of the property now or your plans for the future.
If you are investing in improvements such as fencing, landscaping, an addition, or a pool, make sure it’s on your property and within allowable setbacks. If you have a shoreline or wetland on your property, make sure you know where the limits are and how they affect your use of the surrounding area.
With a free consultation from Spade Geomatics, our Professional Surveyor will provide you with sound guidance so that you invest wisely from the start.
BOUNDARY RETRACEMENT SURVEYS
Most surveys of existing lots and parcels of land would fall within the category of "Retracement Survey". Older parcels of land that have been surveyed, prior to 1979 were typically done with reference to the direction of Magnetic North at the time of survey and distances laid out using a chain. Due to the instrumentation available to surveyors at the time, directions and distances referred to on old plans or deeds may not exactly match with what is found on the ground, as such, your property may be slightly bigger or smaller than what is quoted on your deed. For other older properties, particularly those located in rural areas, the boundaries may have never been setout and measure off by a surveyor, but simply described in a conveyancing document and agreed upon one when individual sold property to another. In these instances, properties described by deeds may have large errors as compared to what may be found on the ground or historical lines of occupation.
Generally speaking, in Nova Scotia, any re-survey of a property that predates 1979 must be accompanied by a Plan of Survey showing Boundary Retracement. This plan provides an up-to-date record of your property and is filed at the Land Registration office to support your ownership.
In conducting Boundary Retracements, the first thing a surveyor must do is to research the public record to determine what you own, research your abutters to determine what they own and also Researching how the property was originally conveyed and the sequential chain of title as some larger piece of land was cut up and sold. Upon completing documentary research in the office, a surveyor must then try and find monuments in the field that accord to descriptions in deed or as shown on previous plans of survey, additionally often times during this process we locate other structures such as evidence of occupation, fences, walls and limits of clearing etc. which may help in determining the historical extent of the property. After the initial research, field investigation and measurements this information is brought back to the office and analyzed to determine the reliability of various monuments and make a determination is made as to how best retrace your lot lines.
LOT STAKING
Generally speaking, in Nova Scotia, a re-survey of a property that was created after 1979 does not need to be accompanied by a Plan of Survey to be recorded at the Land Registration Office. Surveys conducted after 1979 were typically located by reference to provincial co-ordinate monuments, using more modern instrumentation to reduce errors in measurements. These provincial monuments are located as a network of points across Nova Scotia, and its likely that you have seen a few concrete pillars or orange signs along the roadsides. Because of the increased reliability of surveys conducted after 1979, if you own a property that was created and shown on a plan between 1979 and now, a surveyor may set new survey markers and stake out the limits of your lot or parcel without having to prepare a new plan to be recorded at the Land Registration office.
SUBDIVISION SURVEYS
Whether you and your neighbor are swapping pieces of land or you are building a new road and creating a new multi-lot development - an approved subdivision plan is required. Lot boundaries cannot be changed, and new lots cannot be created without a plan prepared by a Professional Land Surveyor approved by the municipal authority. Spade Geomatics are experts in land development and can guide you through the process and help with applications for approvals. When your application gets beyond the preliminary stage, Spade Geomatics can prepare the required subdivision plans for land registration and raising new title.
Subdivision - dividing your property using professional help
LOCATION CERTIFICATE
If you are looking to purchase a new house, it may be a good option to have a Land Surveyor prepare a location certificate. A Location Certificate prepared by a Professional Land Survey certifies that all buildings and improvements are located within the subject lands and identifies any potential encroachments emanating from neighboring property. Although your Lawyer may be able to ensure the plot of land has a good chain of title, and it is free and clear of liens or other encumbrances, your lawyer cannot provide and assurance that the house and other improvements are actually wholly located on the land being purchased or that neighbors have not built any improvements encroaching onto the subject lands. Caution should be exercised if relying on a Location Certificate which was not prepared for you, if you rely on a location certificate which was prepared at an earlier date for someone else, if errors are later discovered you will have no legal recourse and old certificate will not depict any changes which may have occurred since the date the certificate was prepared.
A Location Certificate provides a major advantage over solely relying on Title Insurance. A Location Certificate will identify any potential problems prior to the purchase, allowing you to inform important decisions or negotiate relief during the property transaction.
